English Section

Polish gov’t backs EUR 63 bn road-building drive: officials

13.12.2022 17:30
The Polish government has approved the country’s biggest-ever road construction programme, worth PLN 294 billion (EUR 62.6 billion), officials said on Tuesday.
Mateusz Morawiecki.
Mateusz Morawiecki.PAP/Mateusz Marek

The move was announced by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, state news agency PAP reported.

Speaking to the media after a Cabinet meeting in Warsaw, Morawiecki said the road construction programme approved by the government "is the biggest initiative of its kind in Poland's history."

He added that the programme "foresees PLN 294 billion for new roads and this funding is guaranteed.”

The new roads are expected to be built by 2033 at the latest and total some 2,000 kilometres in length, according to officials.

Plans include an expressway (S5) between Grudziądz and Ostróda in the north, a large ring road (S50) for Warsaw, and a major road (S10) between the capital and the northwestern city of Szczecin, officials said. 

Morawiecki told reporters that the new roads and motorways “will boost economic growth and help create new jobs,” providing a strong economic and social incentive "for all Polish people." 

He added that the expanding road network would "create even better prospects for the growth of entrepreneurship, for economic growth."

Poland to have ‘one of the best road networks in Europe’

Morawiecki said: “Despite the situation caused by the war [in Ukraine] we are not slowing down our investments because we know that investment in infrastructure is also the driving force of economic growth, of rebounding after the crisis served up by Putin, and earlier, by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Morawiecki vowed that “in five to 10 years’ time, Poland will have one of the best road networks in Europe.”

Meanwhile, Infrastructure Minister Andrzej Adamczyk said that “Poland is currently the biggest market when it comes to investments in roads and railways.”

“We are planning investments in every region of the country because every region deserves safe roads,” Adamczyk added, as quoted by the PAP news agency. 

Tuesday is day 293 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. 

(pm/gs)

Source: PAP, inwestycje.pl