On Friday, the Sejm did not accept the Left's motion to reject the presidential bill on the Central Port of Communications. 203 Members voted against, against 211, and 12 abstained, which means sending the draft to further work in the infrastructure committee.
Among the voters against the proposal of the Left were 9 Polish MPs 2050, including talker of the Sejm Simon Hołownia. In addition, 12 Members of this group abstained, causing controversy in the ruling coalition.
PSL Leader Comment
PSL president Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz commented on the case on Saturday during the provincial convention of delegates. "I've already spoken to the Prime Minister after this vote, and he's been talking to Marshal Holovnia. I think we've learned a lesson from this. (As a coalition-PAP) we have our CPK task and it is much better. There is no request to support projects that reduce the velocity of high-speed railways from 350 to 250 km/h" - he told journalists.
Deputy Prime Minister added that the coalition has its own task to implement. "We have adopted our own task and will carry it out. I think those misunderstandings that occurred yesterday were cleared up. We're moving on. In the final, it ends with a government project, and yesterday's vote should be a informing and a lesson for us for the future" - said Kosiniak-Kamish.
Response of Prime Minister and Marshal
Prime Minister Donald Tusk powerfully criticized the attitude of Poland 2050 and Marshal Holownia. "This is simply a bad sign from Poland 2050 and Marshal Holownia. In the CPK case we have our smart, sensible version with high-speed railways. It's rational, and we started building it. We do not want to be disturbed by those who drew a 1000 boards, spent hundreds of millions of dollars on their salaries and did nothing. president (Karol) Nawrocki is on the side of those people. I am sorry that Marshal Holovnia and specified a large group of MPs from his group have sided with president Nawrocki on this issue, due to the fact that this is very bad for the future" - said the head of government.
Marshal Holovnia assured after the vote that it did not violate the coalition in any way. He added that the parliamentary committee wanted to work on a presidential task to show his absurdities as well, and gave his explanations to the Prime Minister.
Details of the CPK programme
The programme of the Central Communication Port provides for the construction of the central airport between Warsaw and Łódź and the strategy of the advanced velocity Railways. The fresh airport is initially to be adapted to service 34 million passengers per year with the anticipation of expansion.
The high-speed railway on the Warsaw-Lodz section through the CPK is expected to shorten the time of the journey from about 70 to 40 minutes. From Warsaw to Baranów airport, the journey is expected to take little than 20 minutes, and after the construction of the full "Y" railway, the journey from Poznań to Warsaw is expected to take about an hr and 40 minutes alternatively of the present 2 hours of 20 minutes.
Investment deadlines and costs
The CPK airport is scheduled to be launched by the end of 2032, and the same time limit is planned to open the KDP Warszawa-Lodz line. The episodes from Łódź to Wrocław and Poznań are to be finished 3 years later, and the estimated investment cost by 2032 is PLN 131.7 billion.
The presidential task envisages completion of construction works by the end of 2031, the launch of air traffic by the end of 2032 and the improvement of about 2 1000 kilometres of fresh railway lines. It besides provides for the transfer of all traffic from Chopin Airport to CPK and the financing of the programme by means of fiscal securities to at least PLN 66.18 billion.
Sources used: "PAP" Note: This article has been edited with the aid of Artificial Intelligence.
