Infrastruktura - Środowisko - Energia
Dodatek promocyjno-reklamowy do "RZECZPOSPOLITEJ".
20 grudnia 2006 r.

po polsku

Network of highways

Interview with Zbigniew Kotlarek, General Director at Dyrekcja Dróg Krajowych i Autostrad (General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways)

When can we expect a European standard network of roads and motorways?

Under the government programme for road development, the principal network of motorways and express roads is scheduled to be completed by 2015. The programme envisages construction of the A1 motorway (to be completed by 2010), the A2 motorway from Świeck to Terespol and the A4 motorway from Rzeszów to the Polish-German border. It also includes building of priority express roads in western Poland - the S3 express road from Szczecin to Legnica, the S8 from Wrocław through Łódź, Warsaw to Białystok and the S19 most probably from Białystok to Rzeszów as well as creation of numerous ring-roads, including a ring-road system for Warsaw.

We have been hearing of similar plans for many years. Why should it work out now?

That is true, but it should be noted that that Poland has never before had at its disposal such immense financial potential. In the coming 7 years we will have over 100 billion PLN for road construction! Nearly half of this funding will come from the European Union. The rest will come from our own contributions and the resources obtained from the World Bank, the European Investment Bank and private investors. Guaranteed by important financial institutions, the government and the EU, this money will ensure development of the road network. 

Do we know how to spend this money? Despite the growing financial resources, so far their utilization has been rather poor.

I do not agree with that. First off all, we should bear in mind that the EU assistance funding awarded to us has to be used by the end of 2008. At present, all EU co-financed contracts are under execution which makes it is impossible to spend all of the resources at once. Besides, normally the largest invoices for construction services are made out at the end of the construction period, which in our case means another 1.5 years. I am assured that the level of funding absorption will be one of the highest in the whole EU once all construction works are completed and the invoices are issued.

If it goes so good then why does it go so bad?

Well, so far we have received around 3 billion euros from the European Union but our needs are several times greater. Therefore it goes as good as it is realistically possible but I think that it is worth thinking of how to improve the current situation. We have identified a number of legal and financial barriers to the creation of a high quality road network in Poland which need to be urgently abolished. To do so, first of all, we need to change the public procurement regulations so that to make tendering procedures less time consuming. Secondly, we need to balance environmental protection with infrastructure development, shorten administrative procedures and, finally, allocate more resources to the preparation of new investments. We ought to remember that the mentioned 100 billion PLN can be used for road construction only, excluding land purchase, preparation of construction projects or archaeological works.

A road network does not consist of motorways only. Generally speaking, road quality in Poland leaves much to be desired and we are lagging far behind other European Union countries.

You are right but the fact is that repair and construction works of express and ring roads are being done along the whole road network in Poland. Poland is one of the largest loan beneficiaries of the World Bank and the European Investment Bank and has increased the dynamics of road renovation tenfold. By 2001, the average length of national roads under repair was 200 km. In 2002-2005, the length of repaired roads amounted to 5 000, accounting for 30% of the total length of all national roads. The programme to be implemented by 2009 envisages improvement of 90% of roads to meet European standards. Today, it is hard for road users to believe that Poland has 673 km of motorways. That is obviously still not enough to make the standard of road travel in Poland  close to that of Germany or our southern neighbours. We should remember however that the Czech Republic launched road investments 10 years ago and allocated to them 60% of  its privatisation income. Poland, on the other hand, begun to lay the foundations for a coherent and rational financing system for the road sector in the mid 1990s by allocating 12% of fuel excise to road development (around 1-2 billion PLN annually). This is not enough to construct new roads and repair the existing ones.

What is the source of financing for road construction?

The budgetary items of the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways include incomes from the state budget (fuel excise), low interest loans from the World Bank and the European Investment Bank, resources from the National Road Fund (i.a. fuel charges) and - most importantly - EU funding. It is thanks to EU grants that we are able to develop transit road routes (thanks to the Cohesion Fund) and minor regional roads (thanks to the European Regional Development Fund). We have allocated all resources awarded to Poland under the Cohesion Fund (around 1 billion euros) for 2004-2006. Thanks to this non-repayable assistance we have created, among others, the A2 motorway from Konin eastwards. Over the next 2 years we will put into use the S8 express road from Radzymin to Wyszków including Wyszków ring-road (with repair works on the two-lane ring-road around Radzymin), reconstruct the national road no. 2 from Siedlce to Terespol and construct sections of the A4 motorway from Zgorzelec to Krzyżowa and the A1 motorway from Katowice to the Czech border. By 2010 we will complete the A1 motorway.

Why some of the motorways are financed through concession contracts and some from the budget?

This is due to the traffic intensity. No concessionaire would construct a motorway where the traffic is insufficient to ensure return on invested capital. Therefore the state uses European funding to build motorways where investments do not provide adequate returns.

Thank you.

Grzegorz Pawlak

www.gddkia.gov.pl