Construction of the first stretch of an ‘electronic barrier’ comprised of surveillance and detection equipment on the Polish-Belarusian border has been completed.
The Polish Border Guard can now use the barrier which re-enforces an existing fence, can now be used by.
The 21-kilometre stretch near the village of Kuznica features more than 300 day and night-vision cameras, including thermo-vision, and an electro-telecommunications station.
According to PAP (Polish Press Agency – ed.), the stretch handed over to the SG on Monday afternoon should start working within days. The first operators are currently being trained. Details of the system will soon be presented at a special meeting at the border for journalists.
General Wioletta Gorzkowska from the BG told a parliamentary sub-committee that the surveillance equipment will provide Poland with an early-warning system. Moreover, it will eventually cover the whole of the EU’s external border.
Gen. Gorzkowska told the committee the choice of contractor for a similar barrier on the border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad was in progress.
The full length of the electronic barrier with Belarus will stretch for 202 kilometres and cost around PLN 1.6 billion (EUR 340 million).
Last year, Poland experienced heightened migratory pressure at its border with Belarus with thousands of migrants trying to get into the country. Warsaw blamed the crisis on the Belarusian government, saying it was flying in Middle Eastern and African migrants on the false promise of easy access to the EU.