Poland moves to upgrade rail links to Baltic ports
PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki
24.06.2019 16:00
Billions worth of new rail infrastructure will help elevate the Polish ports of Gdańsk and Gdynia to the Baltic Sea’s largest port hub, the country’s prime minister said on Monday.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki gives a news conference in the Polish Baltic port of Gdynia on Monday.Photo: PAP/Adam Warżawa
Mateusz Morawiecki was speaking at the signing of deals for work to modernise and build new rail infrastructure to benefit the Polish seaports.
Morawiecki said during the ceremony in Gdynia that the new infrastructure, scheduled for completion by the end of 2021, “will significantly increase the possibilities of transporting goods” and transform Gdańsk and Gdynia into “the real No. 1 hub in the Baltic Sea.”
State-run rail company Polskie Linie Kolejowe (PLK) on Monday signed three contracts with businesses that won tenders for the project, Poland’s PAP news agency reported.
Under the deals, a total of PLN 3.2 billion (EUR 750 million, USD 860 million) worth of new infrastructure will be built to improve rail access to the ports of Gdańsk and Gdynia, PAP added.
Almost 40 percent of the funds will come from European Union coffers under the bloc’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), a key EU funding instrument to promote growth, jobs and competitiveness in member states through targeted investment in infrastructure, the news agency reported.
In a statement earlier this year, Morawiecki said that Poland’s largest container terminal, DCT Gdańsk, would undergo a multibillion expansion to rival Europe’s leading maritime logistic hubs.
A consortium of investors including Polish sovereign wealth fund PFR in March inked a deal to buy DCT Gdańsk from its Australian owner.
(gs/pk)
Source: PAP