2024-06-26 14:56 update: 2024-06-27, 21:52
Photo PAP/Piotr Nowak
Donald Tusk, Poland's prime minister, has announced an altered project concerning the Central Transportation Hub (CPK), which was planned by the previous government.
The CPK was the Law and Justice (PiS) government's multi-billion-zloty flagship project to build a massive transport hub located between Warsaw and the central city of Lodz that would encompass a brand-new airport with rail and road links.
Last year, NIK, the country's state audit office, warned that the project lacked full business justification, thus the new government decided that the entire project would be examined "in a transparent way" by experts.
On Wednesday, Tusk announced that the airport would be created, adding that it would be "the most advanced" facility in Europe, able to handle up to 34 million passengers annually.
The cost of the project is estimated at PLN 131 billion (EUR 30 bln) and construction is expected to completed in 2031.
The prime minister said that in order to minimalise the scale of expropriations, the new project did not involve the construction of new railway routes intersecting at the CPK site.
"We propose rail routes that will connect all (bigger - PAP) Polish cities, a relatively dense network... serving real streams of passengers," he said.
The construction is expected to begin with a high-speed rail line linking Warsaw, Lodz and the western cities of Poznan and Wroclaw.
The government has pledged to support, when necessary, regional airports adding that the Warsaw Modlin Airport would be extended and modernised for low-cost and charter airlines and provided with a train connection. (PAP)
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