Poland to spend over PLN 100 billion on roads by 2023

“The road construction programme for the years 2014-2023 has an estimated cost of PLN 107 billion; we will build 3,900 km of motorways and expressways,” Kopacz told a press conference.

According to the Prime Minister, the priority is to complete Poland’s network of motorways and expressways, reducing journey times between major towns by at least 15 percent.

The announced total expenditure represents a PLN 14 billion (EUR 3.3 billion) increase from previously existing plans for road spending during the period in question.

Meanwhile the Minister of Infrastructure and Development, Maria Wasiak, pledged that PLN 5 billion (EUR 1.2 billion) will be spent on modernising selected sections of existing roads to improve safety.

“We have identified over 1,100 areas for investments, for which we have allocated almost PLN 5 billion. In places where there is no possibility of modernising the entire road in the immediate future we want to rapidly improve these [dangerous] sections of it,” the minister explained.

Transport experts have largely reacted positively to the announcement of additional funding for roads, though the issue of whether the additional money will be spent effectively was raised by some commentators.

“The most important question [now] is whether or not the money will be spent in an efficient and useful way… [Overall] I am a cautious optimist, as the General Directorate of National Roads and Motorways is improving how it spends money every year,” noted Łukasz Bernatowicz from the Business Centre Club. (sl/jh/rk)

Source: PAP