A budget of around €26bn has been reserved for transport and environmental investments in Poland. At the beginning of August the government gave the go-ahead for the “Infrastructure and Environment” programme, the largest of the regional development programmes to be supported by the European Union for the 2007-2013 period.

The budget prepared by the Ministry of Regional Development breaks down as follows: €21.2bn from the EU, €3.7bn from the Polish public sector and approx. €1bn (in the form of private contributions) from Polish companies.

According to Poland’s minister for regional development, Grazyna Gesicka, €15.1bn will be spent on modernising the country’s transport network (mainly road links between Poland’s urban centres and Warsaw, the country’s main east-west railway line as well as railway links on the Gdansk-Katowice-Wroclaw lines).

In addition, the sum of €4.8bn has been earmarked for environmental projects, among others, water-sewage management and waste utilisation, anti-flooding protection and assistance for firms in implementing environmental norms.

The “Infrastructure and Environment” programme will be one of a number of regional development programmes to be carried out at the national level after 2007. The other projects in the pipeline include the following: Innovative Economy (with approx. €7bn in financial aid from the EU), Human Capital (€8.1bn), a relief programme for Eastern Poland (€2.2bn), the European territorial co-operation programme (€576m) and technical aid for administrative units responsible for the deployment of EU aid for Poland (€217m).

Apart from national-level programmes, a further 16 regional programmes will also obtain funding from the EU budget – totalling €16bn.