WARMINSKO-MAZURSKIE BROADBAND (FL2012-0606)

The project concerns the construction of a fibre based regional backbone and distribution network including the active components for in the Polish Voivodeship of Warminsko-Mazurskie. The network, consisting of 2,241 km of fibre-optic network and 224 network nodes, will be designed to cover mostly white areas in this region and will provide open and non-discriminatory access to wholesale services necessary for the provision of basic and NGA retail broadband services. It will be designed to complement the existing telecommunication infrastructure of operators in the region.

Development of fast and reliable broadband connectivity in Europe is one of the key initiatives of the Europe 2020 Strategy. The Digital Agenda for Europe initiative states that all citizens should have access to very fast (> 30 Mbps) broadband by 2020. The project supports this initiative by providing fibre-based backbone mainly to less densely populated areas in Poland, with an effect of creating regional employment in poorer areas of the country. Currently, only around 60% of the population in the Voivodeship have access to basic broadband, but by the end of the project this number is expected to reach around 90%. The project is therefore eligible under Article 309 point (a) projects for developing less-developed regions and/or point (c) common interest. The project is also fully in line of National (e.g. National Development Strategy 2007-2015) and Community (Strategy of Informatisation for the Warminsko-Mazurskie 2007-2015) level strategies.

Investments in fixed telecommunications projects (mainly civil works for copper/fibre installation) do not fall under Annex I and II of Directive 2011/92/EC. According to the pre-design it is expected that the works will have limited impact as the installation of the regional transmission network is supposed to be done mostly alongside existing roads.
Furthermore under the Polish environmental regulations the project is subject to a screening as per Natura 2000 protection law. In its assessment during the project preparation the Regional Director for Environment Protection concluded that there is no significant impact on Natura 2000 during implementation and operation expected.
The environmental details related to the final design will be assessed during appraisal.

The Bank will require the Promoter to ensure that contracts for the implementation of the project have been tendered in accordance with the relevant applicable EU procurement legislation 2004/18/EC, with publication of tender notices in the EU Official Journal, as and where required.
The relevant works and service contracts have been published in the OJEU under 2012/S 71-117812 and under 2012/S 34-054951. Meanwhile also the contract award has been notified under 2013/S 083-139021 and 2012/S 107-177562.