Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, March 12, 2024 in Washington (AFP/Archives/Brendan SMIALOWSKI)
The Polish government has decided to continue the construction of a large new airport in the center of the country, which would be ready in 2032 and ultimately capable of welcoming 34 million travelers per year, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced on Wednesday.
This airport, which will be built between Warsaw and Lodz, “will be the most modern in Europe” and will be accompanied by projects to modernize Polish regional airports, notably in Warsaw and Modlin, as well as the creation of a railway network for high-speed trains, connecting the country’s major cities, and a strengthening of the national airline LOT.
“The Baranow airport will be built”, but the project is “rationalized”, assured the head of government, cutting short comments suggesting that the new pro-European coalition would cancel this project which the previous populist nationalist executive considered as its flagship project.
According to the new government, the Baranow airport is expected to cost around 10 billion euros and the entire project with the accompanying infrastructure will require around 30.5 billion euros, financed with treasury bonds, credits, European funds and by private investors.
By 2032, the LOT company must have 135 aircraft of different sizes, almost double its current fleet, to be able to serve around 60% of the traffic at the new airport.
Mr. Tusk also announced the return of an old project for the first high-speed railway line (up to 320 km/h), linking Warsaw to the new airport and Lodz (center), then branching off towards Poznan (west). ) and Wroclaw (south-west), by the final deadline of 2035. The construction or modernization of other railway lines is also planned.
Poland, a country of 38 million inhabitants, “will become a large megalopolis”, with the possibility of reaching all the major cities of the country (Poznan, Wroclaw, Katowice (south), Krakow (south) and Gdansk) “in less than 100 minutes”, Mr. Tusk assured journalists.
© 2024 AFP
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