Work begins on country's first privately-funded highway

Work began yesterday on the first highway in Poland to be built using solely private investment. The A-2 highway will cover the 150 kilometers from Konin to Nowy Tomysl in the Wielkopolska region of western Poland, skirting the city of Poznan. The project could go ahead once the Treasury granted credit guarantees worth euro 800 million to Autostrada Wielkopolska (AW), the company responsible for the construction. The guarantees enabled the company to obtain two major loans, one worth euro 275 million from the European Investment Bank, the other worth euro 235 million from Credit Lyonnaise. The remainder of the funding for the project, estimated at around euro 235 million, will be found by AW from its own resources. The construction of the A-2 highway is one of the largest investment projects currently being undertaken in Poland. The road is expected to open to traffic in late 2004. (Puls Biznesu, p. 9; Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 3) A.K.