Dealing with the traffic

There is a lot going on at border crossings. Nine to the east, five to the west and two to the south are being modernized and EU pre-accession funds are covering most of the costs

Last year was quite unique in the changes it brought to infrastructure along Poland's borders. Ten crossings began modernization and two new were opened and this is all of course very closely linked to Poland's impending access to the European Union. According to agreements with the EU, Poland will be obliged to introduce visas for Ukrainian, Belorussian, and Russian citizens, which will most likely lead to these countries introducing similar laws in kind and, subsequently, to the general lengthening of border control procedures. Modernizing border crossings is supposed to help tackle this problem and to facilitate the passage of goods and people.

Wholescale upgrading to the East
The largest investment of this type at the eastern border is the development and modernization of a major border crossing with Belorussia in Kuźnica Białostocka-Bruzgi that has been ongoing for the last two years. A border crossing for the motorized traffic of goods and people, as well as for pedestrians, is being developed on 18 hectares of land. The estimated total cost of investment amounts to PLN 250 mln (EURO 62.5 mln) and the work is being financed both from the state budget and EU financial aid (Phare 2000 and 2001).
One fifth of this amount (EURO 14 mln) is going to Warsaw's Warbud, to construct the various checkpoint buildings and car parks and access roads for all the vehicles entering and leaving the country, as well as centres to monitor foodstuffs and animals. The modernized crossing will cater for up to 8,000 cars and 1,500 lorries daily, and all stages of the conversion should be complete in the first half of 2004. "This is the first time we are conducting this sort of work and I believe that we will profit from the experience in the future, when more crossings are modernized," said Bogdan Klukowski of Warbud, who wouldn't divulge any more details as they were still confidential.

Just a little less to the south
The construction of a crossing in Winiarczykówka, on the border with Slovakia, was of an all-together different nature. Although on a completely different scale, of less significance and generating fewer costs, the length of construction was surprisingly similar. The first stage of construction, which began in 1997, ended towards the end of last year. The Małopolska voivodship (formerly the Nowy Sącz voivodship) and the Lipnica Wielka gmina, where the Winiarczykówka crossing is located, contributed PLN 3.5 mln, which covered the costs for the border guard stations, customs clearance units, sheltered customs area and loading platform. In order that the crossing can cater for lorry traffic, it must be equipped with facilities for weighing goods, for example, in the second stage of construction.
The Lipnica Wielka gmina was the direct while Małopolska Dyrekcja Inwestycji acted as secondary investor. "As secondary investor we were responsible for the technical documentation, negotiations with the local authorities, tenders and the final acceptance of the completed work. The tenders did not deal with construction work, because the prime contractor was Gminne Gospodarstwo Pomocnicze," says Andrzej Szczepanowicz, Director of Małopolska Dyrekcja Inwestycji.