GB No. 4(15)/94
Pawel Różyński is wondering if the plans for the largest Polish transportation investment ever will not turn out to be too risky, both to the state and to the private investors.
In October [1994] the Sejm and Senate [Polish Parliament] almost unanimously approved the highway construction bill. Recently, the bill was signed by the president. The investment, planned for 15 years, is to yield 2,571 kilometers of highways of the highest European standard. The government assures that the first bidding for highway construction and exploitation contracts will take place next year.
The highway issue has been discussed since the time of President Bierut (early 50's), but the first real attempts took place in the 70's, when Western athletes were to travel to the Moscow Olympic Games via the newly built A-2 route. At that time some viaducts were built between Warsaw and the city of ŁódĽ --- they have been left unused in open fields ever since. In 1985, the government adopted a plan to construct the highway network, but there were not enough funds to start it.
However, since the beginning of the 90's, the number of vehicles on Poland's highways has skyrocketed. In 1960, there was one car per 252 people, at present -- one per six. Each year, the transit traffic through Poland is rising. The level of traffic intensity predicted for the year 2000 was reached two years ago [in 1992].
The highways have become a myth, a panacea for the economy. It is believed that economic recovery and new jobs will follow from the programme of highway construction. During the parliamentary election campaign last year, all parties were bidding for more highways and quicker project implementation [Translator's note: 28% of voters actually turned up at the polls].
The last "Highway construction program" was developed at the Ministry of Transport in the second half of 1992. It assumed the construction of three highways of a Šjoint length of 1,961 kilometers. The government of Hanna Suchocka adopted the plan in July, 1993, and in September, 1993, increased the proposed length of the highway network to 2,571 kilometers. Waldemar Pawlak's cabinet accepted this proposal and is willing to start implementing it.
This idea assumes the construction of 150-200 kilometers each year -- the amount that is built in developed countries. Western experts do not conceal that the programme may turn out to be too ambitious. Mr. Andrzej Patalas, the head of the State Highway Construction Agency, also admits that the plans are very optimistic. But are they real? Everything depends on the investors.
For the Polish highways to become reality, an enormous amount of money is needed; according to the government, the order of magnitude is 8-9 billion dollars. However, this sum seems to be significantly underestimated. Why? Because it is the result of a simple multiplication of 2,600 kilometers by the estimated cost of one kilometer of highway construction -- that is, 3 million dollars. Nevertheless, the highways are to go through highlands and highly urbanized areas like Upper Silesia, where the construction costs are two or even three times higher. It may turn out that the total cost of the investment will be "significantly" higher than 10 billion US dollars.
Theoretically, if a quarter of the road tax and imported fuel and car spare parts tax were allocated to highway construction (that exceeds 40 trillion zloties per year), we would have the highway network ready in ten years. However, nobody will agree to spend so much money on roads at the expense of schools, hospitals, or social assistance.
This is the reason why in February of 1993 the Sejm accepted the idea of toll highways. As a result, the Suchocka -- and later Pawlak -- government adopted the BOT (Build, Operate, Transfer) system. This system makes it possible to raise private funds for the investment. The state budget will cover only the costs of modernization of the existing elements of the highway network and finish building those highways already begun. The state will also cover the land acquisition costs that constitute 15% of the total investment costs. The rest will be financed by the private investors.
The builder of a given part of the highway will exploit it for twenty-five to thirty years and then will have to transfer it for free to the state. The concession system, allowing for minimization of direct burdening of the state budget, has proved successful in many countries, including France, Italy, and Spain. The Czechs and Hungarians want to implement it, too.
Between ten and twenty Polish consortia are willing to bid for the highway construction contracts. The Ministry of Transport realizes, however, that they are too weak -- often their capital is no more than ten or twenty billion zloties, which allows for the construction of only one or two kilometers of highway. It is doubtful that the banks will make loans worth several millions of dollars available to them. Big capital may be obtained only by the rich Western consortia. Polish companies are therefore worried that their chances in the bidding are very small.
To the question of whether it is not too early for the highways, experts from the Ministry of Transport answer: it is too late.
However, the problem is that the current traffic level is too high for the ordinary roads which soon will jam, but at the same time it is too low to make the highways profitable to the investors. The investors will not invest without a guarantee that they will get returns on their money within a given period of time. We are still lacking detailed and credible prognoses of the traffic intensity over the next 20 or more years -- the period of the highway investment return.
Let us assume, following the government's line, that one kilometer of highway will cost three million dollars. The investors will have to finance the project with foreign loans that may cost 10% a year. This means that the interest rate alone per 1 kilometer may be 300,000 dollars. The preliminary research conducted last year by the Ministry of Transport proved that Polish drivers would be ready to accept the cost of a 1 kilometer drive on the toll highway at 2-3 cents for a car and 8 cents for a truck. To make possible reimbursement for the very high interest rate payments, a given part of the road must be passed by at least thirty thousand cars daily. At present, the traffic intensity on the routes where the highways are planned is slightly above 10,000 cars per day.
The costs of tolling the highway and maintenance need to be added. It seems that the government, to assure the investment return to the private businesses, will have to prolong the concession contracts.
In Spain, the state guaranteed the traffic volume on the highway. If it was lower than expected, the highway operator was subsidized. In Poland, the investors should not expect any tax relief. They are also afraid of tax instability. One cannot rule out the possibility that the state will introduce some sort of highway tax -- not long ago it was unbelievable that the stock exchange could be taxed. The government also wants to have a decisive role in setting the toll rate.
In the country, where there was no tradition of toll roads, it is very difficult to predict the drivers' reactions. It may turn out that the majority will prefer longer and worse but free roads. In France, I saw Polish drivers avoiding the toll roads -- they preferred to save a few francs by going on the parallel road.
The search for the prospective investors is on. "Italian, British, French, and German consortia are interested in the project," says director Patalas. He does not want to name the companies with which initial negotiations have started. "It is too early..."
A few days ago Reuters announced that the French Banque Nationale de Paris and the Morgan Stanley Bank are interested in the project.
Although the investment will be more risky to the investors than to the budget, the failure of the programme may be very expensive for the state as well. The Ministry of Finance plans to guarantee the loans -- even up to 50% of the investment value. It is not difficult to guess what will happen if the company that received the concession goes bankrupt.
Since the amended 1993 bill on public roads allows for tolling the highways only on the condition that a parallel free road connection exists, the state will have to build many kilometers of roads, which involves budget expenditure.
The highways will cross the land of some 100,000 proprietors. With the current land purchase procedures, the highway construction might last as long as a hundred years. Any farmer could block the construction, demanding, say a million dollars for his land. The amended bill introduces simplified, fast procedures of land acquisition. If after two months since the written offer was forwarded, the land purchase agreement is still not signed, the land owner may be forced to sell his land and the highway construction will proceed. The farmer will receive damage money calculated according to the average land price in his county.
The highway programme enthusiasts may be seriously disappointed. It may happen that instead taking advantage of the opportunity and selling the land, for which the Ministry of Transport is willing to pay an "honest" price, the farmers will chase the [Highway] Agency with pitchforks and the courts will be flooded with protests against the forced land acquisition. This is likely, especially since -- as some experts say -- the Highway Bill regulations are contradictory to the Civil Codex.
Let us forget the "details" that will raise the investment costs. The new roads must be constructed to allow the farmers access to their fields and passage for cattle. Solutions must be found in the cases where the highway divides a farmer's land. The Bill does not mention the adverse impact the highways will have on agricultural production. Nevertheless, protection zones must be created, in which certain plants will be prohibited.
The detailed localization of the routes may be a problem as well. Even today, certain counties (such as Pruszków and Ożarow [near the city of ŁódŸ]) are playing a kind of ping-pong, tossing at each other the site of the future highway. The result is that more and more people feel threatened with forced land acquisition.
The highways will become a serious competitor to the national railways (PKP), depriving them of part of their passengers and cargo, which may lead to the closure of certain rail lines. This is no wonder -- everywhere in the world cars are pushing out the railways just because they provide more freedom.
The environmentalists do not like cars. Instead, they are fierce defendants of the railways, pointing to their lesser impact on the environment. According to the environmentalists, the highways will be so attractive that the number of motor vehicles will grow even more rapidly than are right now. They are unable to show a reasonable alternative, apart from combined transport (carrying the lorries and containers on railway carriages). Unfortunately, these kinds of services are highly unprofitable and their development is impossible without support from the state budget.
Nevertheless, it cannot be ruled out that in two or three years the highway project will unite the environmentalists, much as it happened with the Zarnowiec nuclear power plant [failed attempt at building the first and only nuclear power plant in Poland in the late 80's]. Only then will the real trouble begin.
The level of civilizational and economic development of a country is defined -- among other things -- by the total length of its highways. In Europe, there are now some 22,000 kilometers of such roads, In 15 years this figure will double. Poland is a blank spot on this map. The existing parts of the highways, scattered all over the country, cannot really be called highways according to Western criteria. If we are seriously considering joining the European Union, we must match our road network with Western standards.
Thanks to the highways, journey times will become shorter and fuel consumption and risk of accidents will decrease [GB editors' note: environmentalists do not agree with this assertion]. Travelers service stations (hotels, filling stations, shops, etc.) will appear along the highways. These are unquestionable advantages.
The investments will require almost 30 million tons of cement, 1 million tons of asphalt, and 350,000 tons of steel. However, the government is undoubtedly overestimating the scale of economic recovery ascribed to the highway programme. It is questionable that 150-200,000 new jobs will be created. The roads are constructed with modern equipment, not spades. Also, many companies that produce the materials needed for the project may see an increase in the demand for their products, but employment will remain the same.
The construction companies have several doubts as well. Until now they do not know what the requirements concerning -- for instance -- the highway surface will be, and it is impossible to make an investment without this knowledge. Besides, the Polish companies do not withstand the foreign competition due to the high import duties imposed on the modern construction equipment and materials. To import the machinery, a Polish company pays import duties, import tax, and VAT [value-added tax], while a foreign one imports everything according to the conditional import regulations and does not pay.
Economic recovery will not come sooner than a few years from now. The companies in poorer shape may just not be able to wait too long.
In the meantime, various highway lobbies have cropped up. The Gdańsk seaborne lobby wants the A-1 highway from Gdańsk to the Czech border to be built first. They say that this highway will constitute a part of the trans-European North-South highway from Scandinavia to Turkey. The Gdańsk lobby faces the Szczecin lobby, demanding a preference for the parallel A-3 highway beginning in Szczecin. Without A-3, they say, [Poland] will loose the transit to Bohemia. Moreover, the representatives of the southern Poland local government want a preference for "their" A-4, which is opposed by the Warsaw-Poznań lobby, which opts for the A-2 from Warsaw to Berlin...
The Ministry of Transport, asked about which highways will be built first, answers that it will depend solely on the investors and not on the government. It is hard to agree with this. To start the construction, first the land must be purchased -- for some one billion dollars. This year, the state allocated 200 billion zloties for land purchase. Next year the sum will be 400 billion. This means that land acquisition for the highway construction may drag on for many years, delaying the start of construction. It is entirely possible, then, that certain lobbies will succeed in allocating the modest funds for "their highway".
Paweł Różyński
reprinted from Gazeta Wyborcza, Nov. 21st, 1994
translated by Marcin Hyła
I had always associated technicians with environmental degradation until I came across an article " Violation of nature and people " about the Warsaw part of the A-Z Route. It was published in the 46/94 issue of Przegląd Techniczny (Technical Review).
"(...) it is probably the most flagrant example of violation of nature and people, which reveals designing and technological ignorance and greed of investors."
Mr Zygmunt Użalewicz, the deputy director of programming and developing Municipal Roads Board, is a stubborn defender of the location. The part of the route which is glorified by him is planned to run along Płaskowicka Street, 19 metres below the underground tunnel, and through the Mazowiecki Landscape Park (in southern Warsaw) - and along Toruńska Route and Armii Krajowej Avenue (in northern Warsaw).
A group of capital which is dependent on constructing and servicing A-Z Route (Berlin - Warsaw - Moscow) supports a location which adjoins a planned Economic Zone in the Okecie Airport. It would give them extra profits from hotels, shops, petrol stations, etc.
"The advocates of the within-the-city location remain silent on its negative and extremely painful for nature and people aspects. It did not occur to them that they should make someone work out the environmental impact assessment of this investment. Noise, vibrations, shocks, exhaust fumes and other pollutants which are produced by continuous traffic of TIR lorries and other heavy vehicles would be - as experts say - exceedingly painful for nature and people on the area of 3 km on both sides of the Route."
After a 19-metre-deep tunnel is drilled out a large depression sink will appear. It would dry out vast areas completely and destroy priceless nature and cultural objects such as : Wilanowsko-Czerniakowski Ecosystem, Sluzewiecki Stream, Natoliński Grave, Kabacki Forest and the Mazowiecki Landscape Park. And one more quotation from the article :
"Planning, investing and functioning of municipal facilities should - now and in the future - serve nature and people and should not prefer maximizing short-term economic profits by narrow and rapacious groups of capital."
Agnieszka "Ara" Deja
translated by Jacek Iwański
For more information on the campaign against the Polish highway programme contact:
Marcin Hyla
the Campaign "Kraków - City of Bicycles"
Sławkowska 12/24, 31-014 Kraków
tel/fax: 48/ 12/22 22 64, tel: 48/ 12/22 21 47 ext. 10
email: zb@zb.most.org.pl, greenbri@alpin.gn.apc.org
Each year over 30 million tons of copper ore are extracted from mines. Only 400,000 tons of pure copper are obtained by smelting. What about the rest ? The problem of waste management is one of the most important environmental issues, not just in our copper field. And there is also the financial aspect of the problem.
The ore is conveyed from mining shafts to flotation plants in three of the mines, where it is ground up properly. Ore concentrate is then transported to copper smelters and sludge is carried to a sedimentation pond called "Żelazny Most" ("Iron Bridge") by a system of pipelines. According to present regulations, the landfill charge is 40,000 zł per ton. Last year the mining and metallurgical plant "Polska MiedĽ SA" ("Polish Copper Joint-Stock Company") paid 729 billion zł for this environmental exploitation fee. It was only a little less than their net profit!
The charge, which is quite large when compared with the rest of the country, is particularly welcomed by officials who have national and voivodeship funds for environmental protection at their disposal. On the other hand, there is some discussion, sometimes quiet and sometimes brisk, about whether making mines pay such an astronomical charge is sensible and provides reasons for protecting the environment. Besides, it has not been settled whether the stored sludge is waste or raw material. It is not a secret that the sludge contains 0.2% copper while ore is just 10 times richer. At present, sludge recycling from sedimentation ponds is not economical. Perhaps this situation will change in the future. Some time ago the Board of "Polska MiedĽ" signed a letter of intent regarding such recycling of waste from a closed "Konrad" mine with the Swiss firm Farhthcare Environmental Europe est.
Sedimentation ponds form a specific historical trail of Polish copper mining in Lower Silesia. It started near Zlotoryja in the "Lena" mine. The waste was kept in two reservoirs there. In the late 1970s, when winding towers ceased moving and copper extraction stopped, the ponds were no longer filled. Another mine, "Konrad", had three ponds. The first one was a tragic case. In 1967, its dam burst and copper-laden mud flooded the village of Iwiny to the level of the first floor (second story). A supplementary pond was started immediately, and then, until the end of the 1980s, the waste was stored in "Wartowice" pond on an area of 220 ha. Mines in the New Copper Field stored their waste in "Gilów" pond first, which was situated ~6 km from Lubin, on the right side of the Lubin-Polkowice road. Between 1968 and 1980 about 100 mln tons of waste were accumulated on an area of 600 ha. Meanwhile, another pond --"Żelazny Most" near Rudna -- was being prepared. Now it occupies over 1600 ha. A protection zone covering 1126 ha was delineated around the pond. At present, there are ~ 300 mln tons of waste from "Lubin", "Polkowice", "Rudna", and "Sieroszowice" mines. Dams of "Żelazny Most" are 40 metres high and are constantly raised. The pond is intended to store waste for many years.
Mostly shale and sandstone. Almost the entire Mendeleev chart has flowed into "Żelazny Most" and, previously, into "Gilów". The pond is the most important link in the water system of the whole copper mining industry. It absorbs excess water which is pumped out of the mines. Then the water is used in enriching ore in flotation sections and returned back to "Żelazny Most". However, there is more water than needed. The water surplus in copper mines is over 50 cubic metres per minute and must be carried into the Odra River. Although the residue is diluted, the salinity of the water is rather high. The water is carried from "Żelazny Most" by a special pipeline, which was once built in order to draw water from the Odra because there might be a deficiency. Saline water flows into the Odra in the town of Głogów. In such cases a special permission from environmental services is required. It is called "pozwolenie wodno-prawne" (water supply and sewage effluent disposal consent). "Polska Miedż SA" has not had such permission since the beginning of 1994. Negotiations are still being conducted and there is a great deal of money at stake. Without the proper document, a several billion zł charge can change to a fine 10 times bigger.
Most of the copper ponds have been overgrown with dense grass, shrubs, and trees for many years. The first of the "Lena" ponds is hard to find in the vegetation. Many years ago a lot of plants were sown in order to form an appropriate soil layer. Then trees were planted. "Gilów" pond, overgrown with vegetation, has been an interesting testing ground for copper ecologists. In order to stabilize mobile sands of the dried out pond surface, air-hydro sowing was used. A plane sowed grass seeds with natural manure from sewage treatment plants. In this way a very bioactive soil layer formed on the surface of the pond. About 30-50 ha per month could be managed by means of planes. Today's richness of vegetation in "Gilów" pond was sometimes caused by chance. Part of the soil, which had been brought from a nearby airfield, contained "unofficial" acacia seedlings. Now there is an impressive stand of young acacias on that part of the beach. However, the "Lubin" mine, which administers "Gilów" pond, does not want to plant trees there because some ideas of sludge recycling have appeared and trees would make it more difficult to get to the pond.
What seems interesting is the reclamation of the "Lena II" pond, which is situated near Zlotoryja and covers over 110 ha. The waste is conveyed by a mining and production enterprise, "Bazalt" from Wilków. More interesting still, part of the pond is not covered and there are even some quite imposing fish there. They have appeared in "Żelazny Most", too.
After the dam in Iwice burst the ponds were specially protected. "Żelazny Most" in particular is now taken care of and monitored by a group of international experts. Some special solutions have been applied there. According to worldwide standards, the width of a dam should be three times its height, whereas in the case of "Żelazny Most" it is four times its height. Besides that, there is the danger of dusting from the dry parts of a pond. This can be prevented by covering the surface with an asphalt-like substance sprayed from a helicopter. Nevertheless, the dangers caused by this huge pond located in a densely populated region are still discussed.
Adam Spychała
reprinted from Konkrety, July 28th, 1994
translated by Jack Iwański
Water power engineering is clean.
That's what they say. That's what they write. And this utter nonsense has polluted the heads even of environmentalists. It suits hydrotechnologists well, because thanks to this, with the "clean" energy slogan, they will have easier access to public funds, approval from the authorities, and society's consent for their "pro-ecological activities".
Water power engineering is clean.
That's what they say. That's what they write. But water power engineering is not clean. I have already written about this. Today, one more example. Very telling. Very drastic. And a very literal example to show that the "clean" water power engineering is far from being clean.
Drawa is a river. A beautiful river. One of the most beautiful in Poland. It flows across the Pomeranian Lake Distric and flows into the Noteć.
Kamienna is a village. A tiny one. And in Kamienna is an equally tiny hydro-electric power plant on the Drawa River. The power of this generating station is only 0.5 MW, so it is less than 1/100(!) of the power of the generating station in Czorsztyn. So it is less than 1/2 000(!) of the power of all the water generating stations in Poland. So it generates less than 1/30,000 of the power of all (not just water) power plants in Poland.
The salmon is a fish. A beautiful fish. Big. And expensive. There used to be a lot of it in Poland. Now it is difficult to find the salmon in the wild in Poland. Instead, it is easily found in The Polish Red Book of Animals, where it is listed as a dying species:
According to the Red Book, the only remaining spawning-grounds for the salmon are found in the Drawa and Płociczna Rivers. It is worth noting that the Płociczna is a tributary of the Drawa. But let's return to the Red Book. Let's read on: "At the turn of the 70s and 80s, only 20-50 salmon spawned during the spawning season. During the last few years only a few spawners were observed."
The information included in the guidebook Along the Drawa Across the Drawa National Park is even more pessimistic: "Salmon spawned in the Lower Drawa and Płociczna a few years ago. Today its existence is questioned. For the last few years the researchers have been unable to find salmon spawning-grounds."
So the only salmon spawning-grounds are in the Drawa and its tributary, the Płociczna. And even that is not confirmed. What helped to exterminate the species were the dams on the rivers, which block the salmon's migration to its spawning-grounds. But also, as the Drawa guidebook continues, "The destruction of the population took place before our eyes; the sliming of the riverbed caused by the cleaning up of the storage reservoir led to the destruction of the spawning-grounds below Kamienna."
And Kamienna is such a tiny power plant. A water power plant.
Stanisław Zubek
Kraków, July 15, 1994
reprinted from Zielone Brygady no. 8/94
translated by Jack Iwański
When mercury waste turned out to be dangerous to people's health, it became necessary to undertake safety measures. The landfill in Wygoda was provisionally covered with clay, and work came to a standstill.
"The liquidator has made a mistake raising hopes for settling too many affairs," claims Mr. Janusz Kurnik, the manager of the Environmental Protection Department in the Voivodeship Office in Rzeszów. "Just listen to those people, please. I feel it and want to reconcile the two points of view," answers Mr. Krzysztof Sarna, the liquidator of "Polam".
The Gas-Discharge Lamps Production Plant (RZLW) "Polam-Rzeszów" in Rzeszów was shut down in April, 1989. Apart from empty factory halls, there remained many illegal landfills where mercury-contaminated broken glass was stored. Most of it -- ~500 tons -- was removed to Wygoda in the Głogów Wielkopolski district, but some of it was used for filling gravel workings in Rudna Mała and a pond in Miłocin. Also, local people used the broken glass for road surfacing. When the mercury waste turned out to be dangerous to people's health, it became necessary to protect the places where it was stored. The landfills were inventoried, tests were conducted, the landfill in Wygoda was provisionally covered with clay, and work came to a standstill.
"Mr. Kowalski, the liquidator, did not do anything for a whole year, and in my opinion he neglected the matter to such an extent that part of the "Polam" property was stolen," points out Mr. Kazimierz Barczak, the mayor of Głogów.
The liquidators explained that their lack of interest was caused by a lack of money for landfill reclamation. Subventions for repairing damages caused by the activities of production plants were not transferred from the Ministry of Industry and Trade until last year. When the money finally arrived, problems cropped up. It turned out that there was hardly any possibility to spend it because there were no projects for landfill protection.
Mr. Sarna, the third and present liquidator, submitted a tender for executing the works.
"Most of the offers were from 'exotic performers' who for little money would advise covering the landfills with soil or concrete, like in Chernobyl," says Mr. Kurnik.
"They went a bit far in protecting themselves," judges Mr. Barczak,"because the officials in the Ministry were not willing to answer while the money was in the bank. Finally, the offers were sent back." Meanwhile, Mr. Sarna commissioned the National Fund for Environmental Protection to repeat the pollutant analysis.
The analysis, which was conducted by the Ecological Service Office, proved that "at present there are no dangers which could be the result of previous activities of 'Polam-Rzeszów' which are harmful to the environment." However, protecting illegal landfills is still a live issue.
The total cost of preliminary work and environmental research was nearly 1.5 billion zł, and over 4 billion zł was spent on indemnities, mostly for occupational diseases (mercury poisoning). There were still 14 billion zł of the subvention to be spent. The end of the year was approaching, and the three concerned districts of Głogów, ¦wilcza, and Trzebownisko started to demand more concrete solutions. The administrators of the villages proposed a list of 22 investments covering not only protecting the landfill but also financing facilities which would improve environmental quality. A time schedule for reclamation of areas contaminated with broken glass was worked out. It included landfills, hard-surfaced roads, and so-called compensatory investments, such as modernizing a treatment plant in Zaczernie or financing construction of water pipe from Wygoda to Janciówka.
"This is not a plan, this is a wish list," sums up Mr. Kurnik. The liquidator has taken the dangerous road and whetted the appetites of the local communities. They started to demand mostly minor projects. On March 25, the manager of Environmental Protection Department in the Voivodeship Office decided that RZLM "Polam-Rzeszów" should protect places which might cause environmental hazards. The decision mentioned the landfill in Wygoda, a grove near "Fadom" in Rudna Mała, a working in Rudna Mała, a former pond in Miłocin, and the area near "Polam".
The liquidator appealed against the decision and asked that the list of investments be extended.
"This is the first time I have met a situation where a side which was obliged to provide costly environmental protection has asked for such an extension," says Mr. Kurnik. "If I do not do anything for these districts the people might not let me work in Wygoda," states Mr. Sarna. "Indeed, the public feeling is so bad that protests may occur," confirms Mr. Barczak.
The works in Wygoda will begin in August. Their cost will be over 13 billion zł, as a rough estimate. Mr. Sarna shows a modified time schedule, in which financing "marginal issues" has been taken into account, too.
"If I am not allowed to carry out this plan the only solution will be to send copies of this document to district authorities," he says. "But that will not be the end of the case. And the list of wishes is expanding.
Beata Smolak
reprinted from Chlopska Droga, Aug. 7th, 1994
translated by Jacek Iwański