General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways:
Despite the restrictions related to the coronavirus, contractors are carrying out road contracts while following sanitary guidelines. Maintaining continuity in investment projects, announcing new tenders and signing further contracts are essential to maintaining stability in the construction market, which in the current situation is crucial for the entire economy.
Tomasz Żuchowski, acting head of GDDKiA:
We are not freezing our investments or plans. The companies carrying out our contracts are building their economic and staffing stability. These are not only construction companies. Our investments involve entire supply chains, thousands of jobs and hundreds of subcontractors, suppliers and service providers
He adds:
So far, the coronavirus has not halted road construction, and I hope that with due care and caution this will continue to be the case.
Road officials assure us:
As early as March 2020, we responded and provided contractors and contract engineers with relevant guidelines on safety rules during the pandemic. They are intended to facilitate the implementation of contracts and agreements which, at the present time, are a positive stimulus in the country’s difficult economic situation.
Will there be more investments?
The office: – Government investments are being carried out, and we are adapting our actions to the situation and circumstances at hand, within the framework of applicable law. It should be stressed that GDDKiA is ready to intensify its activities and carry out more projects than originally planned in the PBDK. The Council of Ministers adopted a resolution amending the resolution establishing the multi-year programme entitled the National Road Construction Programme for 2014–2023 (with a perspective to 2025). The government allocated an additional over PLN 21 billion to the National Road Construction Programme. More funding will be provided, among other things, for the construction of the S6 expressway from Koszalin to the Tri-City bypass and the S10 expressway between Toruń and Bydgoszcz.
He adds:
Despite the epidemiological situation in the country, work on the contracts is continuing, and GDDKiA is driving the industry to make a doubled effort.
SARS-CoV-2 is not giving up, but neither are we. In 2020, we announced tenders for 24 sections with a total length of 310.2 km and an estimated value of approximately PLN 9.8 billion. This included 18 projects from the government’s National Road Construction Programme, with a total length of 268.9 km and an estimated value of approximately PLN 8.7 billion, as well as 6 bypasses from the government’s 100 Bypasses Construction Programme, with a total length of 41.3 km and an estimated value of approximately PLN 1.1 billion.
By the end of the year, we have also planned to announce tenders for 22 sections with a total length of 260.7 km and an estimated value of approximately PLN 9.9 billion. This includes 15 projects from the PBDK, with a total length of 192.7 km and an estimated value of approximately PLN 8.2 billion, and 7 bypasses from the PB100, with a total length of 68 km and an estimated value of approximately PLN 1.7 billion.
In 2020, we have already signed 27 contracts with a total length of 368.6 km and an estimated value of PLN 16 billion. By the end of the year, we still want to sign 7 contracts for projects with a total length of 107.2 km and a value of nearly PLN 4 billion, including a section of the A2 motorway, a section of the S1 expressway, two sections of the S7 and four sections of the S19.