Poland Infrastructure Report Q3 2008

Preparations for the Euro 2012 football championship are underway, with special focus being placed upon what needs to be realised within the countrys infrastructure for Poland to host the event. Q308 has seen the government pledge funds to aid the construction of the relevant facilities. Polands road network is set to benefit from the championship. The countrys roads are in poor condition but with the football event has come pledges of serious investment within the sector. Fears have been aired by the football body UEFA that there has been a lack of preparation so far for the tournament. BMI believes that this statement, as well as the threat of losing its hosting role will spur Poland into realising its investment and construction pledges.

Other major developments within Polands infrastructure include the expansion of the countrys renewable power sector. Currently renewables make up just 7.8% of the Polands power sector but this is expected to grow and will be encouraged by the developments of the last quarter with German utility RWE developing wind farms in the country. This desire to go green will be spurred on by the EU Directive 2001/77/EC on electricity from renewable energy sources, which requires the EU to increase renewable energys share of total energy consumption to 12% and electricity produced from renewables to 22.1% by 2010. The country will, however, remain overly reliant on its coal powered sector. The share of coal in the countrys electricity generation sector is the highest among EU member states and this dependence on the fuel may cause Poland some headaches in the medium to long term as EU targets call for the reduction of CO2 emissions by 20%.

News within Polands infrastructure construction sector includes the further expansion of the retail sector, and with an economy which is predicted to witness a GDP worth US$511.2bn in 2008, growth is expected in the commercial construction sector. Over the quarter a number of shopping mall construction projects have been announced, while in the industrial construction arena two new logistics centres have been proposed. The sector is still blighted by a lack of unskilled labour, as workers are attracted by employment in the construction sectors in other European Union countries.