Everything indicates that at the end of 2022 the first ships will sail through the canal on the Vistula Spit. This was announced today by Deputy Infrastructure Minister Marek Gróbarczyk.
“As we assumed, it will be this year, the second half of this year. We don’t want to pinpoint a specific date because we have a difficult and long way to get the water gates up. This is the first such investment in Poland, so there will probably be difficulties in making everything work properly, but everything indicates that at the end of this year the first ships will sail through the Spit,” Gróbarczyk said.
He added that the opening of the canal through the spit means development opportunities for the towns located on the Vistula Lagoon – such as Elbląg or Frombork.
“This whole area will have an impact on the launch of Eastern Poland – areas that had no chance to develop, not to mention the development of the port of Elbląg, which was already “mortgaged”. They were said to be the most expensive parking lots in the world because there were cars on the quay. I hope that this will change, that this year the ships will start to sail across the channel and that we will start a new stage of development for Elbląg, but also for other towns on the lagoon, which will have the possibility of industrial and tourist development,” said the deputy minister of infrastructure.
He added that along with the construction of the canal it is necessary to deepen the waterway through the Vistula Lagoon and the Elbląg River, to modernize the port in Elbląg and to build new bridges.
Gróbarczyk was also asked about the situation of the shipbuilding industry. He recalled that the liquidation of the shipyards occurred in 2008 under the PO-PSL government, which “did not pursue any policy to defend this industry, did not refer the matter to the ECJ, but only implemented what came from the European Commission.” He said that the United Right government has been implementing a program to rebuild the industry since 2016 and an order to build 4 ferries has gone to Polish shipyards.
“We have a contract signed, money transferred, construction begins – and we have an attempt by the opposition to discredit the government’s actions by reverting to sarcasm, which is designed to discredit the entire process,” Gróbarczyk assessed.
He added that the entire ferry construction program is worth 4 billion zlotys, and the construction of 4 ships “will secure the transport potential of our shipowners”. “The shipyards in Rostock and Wismar, which were getting unlimited funds from the German budget, have just gone bankrupt,” Gróbarczyk said.