The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing two loans totalling EUR 735 million in Poland:
- EUR 600 million to finance the extension of the A4 motorway and S17 expressway, both located in South-Eastern Poland;
- PLN 600 million (approx. EUR 135 million) to support the construction and operation of the first Polish LNG terminal in Swinoujscie on the Baltic Sea coast.
The loan of EUR 600 million will help to upgrade transport infrastructure in Poland, which is important for further developing the Polish economy, strengthening its competitiveness and improving the quality of life of the country’s citizens. The new motorway and expressway sections will result in time savings and vehicle operating cost reductions for road users and increase transport capacity with positive implications for the environment.
EIB funding will facilitate the construction of 88 km of the A4 motorway between Rzeszow and Korczowa. This section is part of the 730 km-long priority trans-European transport corridor traversing southern Poland from Germany to the Ukraine, by-passing the cities of Wroclaw, Opole, Gliwice, Katowice and Kraków through the industrial region of Silesia. This loan will also finance 67 km of the S17 expressway between Kurow, Lublin and Piaski. The S17 is also part of the trans-European network and will eventually lead from Warsaw to Lublin and the Polish-Ukrainian border. Works on both road schemes are expected to be completed by 2014.
The loan of PLN 600 million will finance the construction and operation of the new liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal, which is fully in line with EU and Polish energy policy objectives of supporting priority trans-European energy network projects that contribute to the diversification of natural gas supplies. This will help both to improve the security of the energy supply to and within the EU and to increase competition in the Union’s energy markets.
The new LNG terminal will be located on the eastern bank of the Swina River in an area that is earmarked for the development of the existing Swinoujscie port about 4.5 km from the Polish-German border. It will be completed by the end of June 2014 and have a throughput capacity of 5 Gm3/year, which corresponds to more than one third of the average annual natural gas consumption of the Polish economy.