World Bank puts the breaks on loans for transport projects

The World Bank, which over the last eleven years has lent Poland $800 milli on for transport network projects, said that it will not grant any more cre dits for modernizing roads unless the way the funds are managed is changed. Robert Kietlinski, a World Bank analyst, told Puls Biznesu that the roads a re in a bad state not because there is not enough money, but because it is not being spent wisely. The two thirds of the zl. 3.6 billion year raised f rom excise duty on fuels, loans and other sources, goes on the construction of new roads, while the country needs to invest about zl. 7.8 billion to ma intain the existing infrastructure, zl. 3.9 billion of which is required for urgent repairs. The World Bank suggested that the General Management of Roa ds and Freeways (GDDKiA) should become a company operating according to com mercial law and compete on the market. (Puls Biznesu, p. 9) A.D.