Marshal of the Lower Silesian Voivodship: Lower Silesia is the infrastructure heart of Poland

Szymon Krawiec, “Directly”: Lower Silesia as the infrastructure heart of Poland. What does it mean?

Paweł Gancarz: Not only infrastructure, but also economic, tourist or congress, because we talk at the Economic Forum in Karpacz. It is a message that Lower Silesia is an infrastructure heart of Poland, it has become common at the beginning of my term. This is not only my original idea, but simply a fact.

What investments in infrastructure are we talking about?

Characteristic in Lower Silesia is that as one of the few voivodship local governments, we rebuild railway lines at this pace. We consistently take them over and build them, from EU funds and our own, new tracks. For example, in June this year we gave the line from Jelenia Góra to Karpacz.

Today I even rode with this connection. A total of 100,000 have already used it. passengers. This is a very large number. Not only tourists, but also the residents or participants of this year’s Economic Forum.

Last week, we signed another contract for the reconstruction of the railway line to Stronie Śląski and Lądek-Zdrój. These are not only areas injured as a result of the flood, but also the south of Lower Silesia, which requires even better communication.

We already have about 100 kilometers rebuilt in recent years in Lower Silesia. We have more ambitions for this term to close it with the number of 300 km of rebuilt lines.

In addition, we are consistently investing in new rolling stock. Only in the last year we signed contracts worth approx. PLN 850 million for a new rolling stock: electric or combustion. In a moment, the Lower Silesian Railways on their 18th birthday will be able to boast of 100 new railway warehouses, which are brought by Lower Silesia. In regional statistics, our railways are the most effective carrier. Half of their revenues come from the sale of tickets. There is no other such indicator among regional railways in Poland.

Railway is one, and what other infrastructure projects do you implement?

Reconstruction of provincial roads. We launched a new program “Lower Silesia on the right track”. We want to renovate voivodship roads at a greater pace. We have the most of them all over Poland, right after Mazovia.

Another investment – a new oncology hospital in Wrocław. It can be classified into the health segment, but this is also a large construction. Finally, we assume that it closes with the amount of PLN 1.5 billion with equipment. This is also the largest investment of this type in health care in recent years in Poland. Construction today takes place 4 months before the work schedule.

To sum up, I think that this phrastructure “infrastructure heart of Poland” perfectly fits Lower Silesia. The very fact that we meet at the Economic Forum in Karpacz shows the weight and rank of Lower Silesia as a place on the entrepreneurial map of Poland.

You also have a record EU budget – PLN 11 billion to be used by 2027.

If I would brag and speak only well about Lower Silesia, I can say that when it comes to spending EU funds, which is not easy in this tutorial, because it began a little later, outside the schedule, we are halfway through and of all voivodships we are best.

But this praise too much. The Dolnośląskie Voivodeship also has its problems. We are talking about two speeds of Lower Silesia – center and north. Rich Wrocław and the Copper Basin and the South – where we are, i.e. Sudetes, Karkonosze. This part below the A4 motorway, where we observe some kind of disproportions. The new infrastructure is to allow you to catch up.