The project schedule is on track despite what could be attempts by Russia to block the planned waterway, Poland’s Maritime Affairs and Inland Navigation Minister Marek Gróbarczyk said.
The Polish government in October inked a huge deal with a consortium of private firms to dig the strategic canal between the Vistula Lagoon and the Bay of Gdańsk, a project hailed as a boon to the nation’s sovereignty.
Under the deal, a Polish-Belgian consortium is expected to build the new waterway for PLN 992 million (EUR 230 million, USD 252 million) by 2022.
'Russia will do everything to block this project'
The massive project is now in its first stage and “is not threatened despite the fact that Russia will be bending over backwards to block it,” Gróbarczyk told public broadcaster Polish Radio on Tuesday.
He asserted that Russia's actions could be "tied in” with a declaration made by Polish presidential candidate Rafał Trzaskowski that he would stop the project in its tracks if he is elected in a ballot expected later this year.
“Russia will do everything to block this project,” Gróbarczyk said, as cited on the polskieradio24.pl website.
Gróbarczyk also told Polish Radio that Russia was seeking to derail the project because the planned new waterway would strengthen Poland’s eastern regions and provide “an alternative” to the country’s eastern neighbours.
Flak from environmentalists
Meanwhile, critics have said the project will put an unnecessary strain on public coffers.
Environmental activists have complained to the European Commission against the Polish project, citing concerns over its impact on surrounding natural ecosystems.
The EU executive this month received a complaint from an organisation called Eko-Unia (Eco-Union), allied with environmentalists Greenpeace Polska, polskieradio24.pl reported.
The two organisations claim the dig is illegal, while also leading to environmental degradation and wastage of public funds that could otherwise be used to combat the impact of droughts, according to polskieradio24.pl.
'Matter of national sovereignty'
The new canal between the Vistula Lagoon and the Bay of Gdańsk will be around 1.3 kilometres long and five metres deep, officials have said.
It will be built by digging through the Vistula Spit, a narrow strip of land that separates the bay from the lagoon on Polish territory.
The aim is to allow deep-draft vessels to enter Poland’s Elbląg seaport without passing through the Strait of Baltiysk in Russia's Kaliningrad exclave.
The plan to build the canal requires the construction of new water routes, an artificial island and civil engineering and road infrastructure.
Officials have estimated the total cost of the project at almost PLN 2 billion.
Poland’s conservative leader Jarosław Kaczyński said in October 2018 that the planned new canal near the Russian border would help enhance his country’s military as well as economic sovereignty.
Kaczyński, who heads Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, said in September 2018 that the plan to build the canal showed that Russia, Poland’s former communist-era overlord, could no longer dictate to Warsaw what to do.
(gs/pk)
Source: polskieradio24.pl