POLAND: GOVERNMENT PLAN TO CARVE CHANNEL ON POLISH

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 WARSAW 001679

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR EUR/NCE DKOSTELANCIK AND MSESSUMS, DEPT FOR EUR/RS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EWWT SENV PREL RS PL
SUBJECT: POLAND: GOVERNMENT PLAN TO CARVE CHANNEL ON POLISH
SIDE OF VISTULA SPIT RILES ENVIRONMENTALISTS

REF: WARSAW 1001

Sensitive but unclassified - not for internet distribution.


1. (U) Summary. Reftel describes the intermittent quarrels
between the GOP and the Kaliningrad authorities and Moscow
over ship access to the Baltisk Strait, which is the only
point of entry into the Vistula Bay, and is located in
Russian territory. As a result, the Polish city of Elblag
and the surrounding coastal towns must effectively rely on
the Russians for direct sea access to the Baltic. The GOP
has now devised a plan to dig a canal through the Polish
portion of the Vistula Spit, obviating the need for the GOP
to work with the Russians to rewrite the current and
increasingly ineffective bilateral agreement dating from

1946. The plan has some Polish environmentalists and local
government authorities upset at the possibility that the
project will damage both land and aquatic ecosystems.

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Security and Commercial Development
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2. (U) The project to dig a ship canal through the narrow
but forested Vistula Spit was devised by the regional
government of the Warminsko-Mazurskie province and the
municipal government of Elblag (130,000 inhabitants),which
is located on the shore of the Vistula Bay opposite the Spit.
The project gained support of the Minister for Maritime
Affairs, Rafal Wiechecki, has been approved by the GOP's
Council of Ministers, and has been added to the GOP's
infrastructure and development plan. According to plans,
work on the canal will begin in 2008, will be completed by
2010, and will carry a price tag of 60 million Euro. The GOP
will reportedly seek funding from both the EU and NATO,
indicating the GOP justifies the project in terms of both
commercial and strategic merit. The city of Elblag views the
canal as its chance to develop into a major port city in
terms of both tourism and commerce.

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Arguments Against the Canal
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3. (U) Opposition to the Vistula Spit canal comes mainly
from ecologists and the local government of Krynica Morska, a
small town and very popular tourist destination situated on
the Vistula Spit. The proposed canal would be dug to the
west of Krynica Morska, separating the town from the
mainland. Local officials, including the mayor, fear the
canal will complicate access to the town and will lead to
subsequent lost tourist revenue. They also argue that the
Vistula Bay is too shallow to ever permit heavy ship traffic
into Elblag - in which case the economic development argument
in favor of the canal becomes irrelevant. Ecologists argue
that a canal will increase the salinity level of the Vistula
Bay and will disturb the nesting grounds of countless bird
species, which currently stop on the isolated Spit to breed.
Among the many species present is the rare black stork. Some
environmentalists have pledged to take their case to the EU,
as the area where the canal would be dug is part of the EU's
Nature 2000 environmental protection scheme. Pro-canal
voices counter these arguments, noting that studies were done
in the past that revealed salinity levels would not change
due to canal building. They also note that a bridge would be
built over the canal to provide adequate access from the
Polish mainland to Krynica Morska.

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On the Heels of Rospuda
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4. (U) The outcry over the proposed canal comes only weeks
after another economic development project, the Rospuda
bypass, triggered a national debate about balancing
environmental concerns with economic development. The
Rospuda Valley is a wetland area, also in the
Warminsko-Mazurskie province, which is also included in
Nature 2000. The remote and beautiful wetland is found near
the city of Augustow, a through point for large amounts of
heavy truck traffic. Unfortunately, the roads running
through Augustow were not built to accommodate the current
traffic volume, which results in traffic jams and road safety
problems - there have been many fatalities on Augustow roads
attributed to heavy truck traffic. Just as construction was
about to begin on the Rospuda bypass, which provides for a
heavy duty concrete road suspended above the Rospuda wetland,
well over 100,000 Poles signed petitions against the project
and many famous citizens took public stands against it.
Opponents point out that the bypass could be built only a few
kilometers to the west, which would avoid putting the road
through the wetland entirely. This option is a less facile
one for the GOP, as there are scores of landowners with whom
the GOP would have to negotiate for land rights. The Rospuda
Valley, on the other hand, is state-held land. Due to its
designation as protected wetland, EU funding is not available
for the project, which is another rallying point for its
opponents.


5. (SBU) Comment. Both the Rospuda Valley bypass and the
Vistula Spit canal project, regardless of their merits, are
most likely foreshadowing for the type public debate pitting
development against environment that is likely to become more
common as Poland's infrastructure continues to grow,
especially as more EU funding pours into the country. While
these two projects are perhaps not the best illustrations
(one of our highly-placed PiS contacts told us the Rospuda
project was unwise and poorly conceived),the drive to make
Poland's vast forests and wetlands accessible to both
domestic and foreign tourists, and the drive to make Polish
infrastructure more conducive to commercial activity, will
inevitably involve cutting trees and laying concrete, thus
raising the ire of environmentalists.
























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