Financing roads in Poland - present status and futur options

The study was intended to serve as a background research for the future Bank involvement in the Polish road sector. The report consists of three parts: Executive Summary, Findings and Recommendations (Part B) and Background Report (Part C). The Background Report is composed of 5 chapters. Chapter 1 contains basic characteristics of public road network, with emphasis on ongoing investments, organizational and financial responsibility for each category of roads, and identification of bottlenecks in the road sector. In Chapter 2 the impact of increased axle load of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) on Poland's road network is discussed. Growth of motorization, mobility, and traffic volumes in Poland is dealt with in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 is devoted to internal road financing: projected vignette revenues, fuel and vehicle taxes, road user charges, road expenditures, and channeling the road revenues. In Chapter 5 questions of external road projects, and the road sector financing are covered, including standard loan conditions, the European Union (EU) accession requirements, and assistance programs and private investments (concessions). The report was prepared in a period (from March to May 2002) when different options of financing, and restructuring of the road sector were considered by the Polish Government. Some comments, and opinions formulated in parts A and B concerned options, which have been later rejected by the Government. New solutions have been proposed. In this situation, in October 2002, parts A and B of the final report were reviewed, and comments added in footnotes (in italics).