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Viewing cable 06WARSAW481, FHWA ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR VISITS POLAND,

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06WARSAW481 2006-03-16 08:48 2011-08-24 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Warsaw
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 WARSAW 000481 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/NCE DKOSTELANCIK AND MSESSUMS 
COMMERCE FOR 4232/ITA/MAC/EUR/OECA/MROGERS, JBURGESS, 
JKIMBALL 
DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION FOR FHWA ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR 
KING GEE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECIN ECON ELTN PL
SUBJECT: FHWA ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR VISITS POLAND, 
DISCUSSES ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE 
 
REF: WARSAW 3668 
 
Sensitive but unclassified - not for internet distribution. 
 
1.  (U) Summary.  Poland's lack of a quality road 
infrastructure presents serious problems for economic 
development, road safety, and quality of life.  In continuing 
to investigate this problem and encourage GOP action, Embassy 
Warsaw Public Affairs and Econ Sections collaborated to bring 
King Gee, Associate Administrator at the Federal Highway 
Administration, to Warsaw from February 21-24 to discuss the 
development of the Polish highway system.  Mr. Gee presented 
a paper to an industry sponsored trade show and held meetings 
with representatives from the Polish public and private 
sectors.  All of the Poles with whom Mr. Gee met displayed 
strong interest in his insight and opinions, and expressed an 
interest in continued dialogue with the Federal Highway 
Administration.  End Summary. 
 
--------- 
Infratech 
--------- 
 
2.  (U)  Mr. Gee's first event in Warsaw was the Infratech 
Conference and Trade Show, organized as a forum for industry 
representatives from building and consulting firms and 
members of Polish government at the national and local 
levels.  Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Jerzy 
Polaczek gave the keynote address at the conference, and then 
made a presentation during which he spoke in broad terms 
about the historic opportunity to develop the Polish road 
system. 
 
3.  (U)  After attending the morning panel, Mr. Gee gave a 
presentation highlighting the first 50 years of the American 
Interstate  Highway System.  Mr. Gee focused on the history 
of highway building in the U.S., the importance of highways 
in American culture, and the positive economic effect caused 
by the growth of the country's highway system.  This last 
point in particular struck a chord with the audience, many of 
whom were from Polish or European companies trying to take 
advantage of the potential boom in the roads sector. 
 
----------------------------- 
The General Roads Directorate 
----------------------------- 
 
4.  (U)  On the following day Mr. Gee met with Zbigniew 
Kotlarek, Acting General Director of the General Directorate 
of National Roads and Highways (GDDKiA).  Mr. Kotlarek, who 
spent time in the U.S. on an exchange program in the early 
1980s, explained that the GDDKiA carries budgetary 
responsibility for 18,000km of national roads in Poland, 
while 1,000km of smaller roads are maintained by Poland's 16 
voivods.  At the more local level, county governments have 
responsibilities for local roads. 
 
5.  (SBU)  In the course of the discussion, Mr. Gee noted 
that Poland had only approximately 550km of highway, and 
asked what problems contributed to the situation.  Kotlarek 
cited two specific problems.  First, he criticized Poland's 
legislation covering environmental impact assessments, which 
he noted is stricter than the EU standard.  For example, if a 
section of road is being built or even upgraded, and it is 
longer than 10km, the law dictates that an environmental 
impact study be conducted for the entire length of the road 
throughout the entire voivod.  The requirement is costly and 
acts as a significant disincentive to road construction. 
Second, Kotlarek mentioned how difficult it can be to acquire 
land in Poland.  The GOP must not only deal with multiple 
owners, it must also try to negotiate a price at market 
level.  Poland does have a law giving the state eminent 
domain rights, but the law is relatively new and can only be 
applied in limited situations.  Despite these barriers to 
progress, Kotlarek emphasized that progress is being made, 
and that the injection of EU cohesion and EBRD funds into 
Polish infrastructure projects would lead to inevitable 
improvement.  Mr. Gee and Kotlarek also discussed the need to 
manage public expectations through the media, as Kotlarek 
noted he was next on his way to a press conference to discuss 
GDDKiA plans for the upcoming year. 
 
--------------------- 
World Bank and AMCHAM 
--------------------- 
6.  (SBU)  Mr. Gee also met with Radek Czapski, World Bank 
(WB) Infrastructure Sector Operations analyst, and Aleksander 
Granowski, Vice President at the Warsaw office of Atkins 
Global, and President of the AMCHAM Infrastructure Committee. 
 Mr. Czapski discussed the World Bank's activities in 
conjunction with the development of Poland's national roads 
network, noting that current WB projects involve cooperation 
with the GDDKiA in two areas: maintenance, rehabilitation, 
and strengthening of existing roads; and the creation of an 
information management system to handle all of the GDDKiA's 
technical, financial, human resources, and contract-related 
data. 
 
7.  (SBU)  Mr. Granowski and Gee discussed the history of the 
FHWA and the role that highways have played in increasing the 
scope of commerce in the United States.  Granowski has spent 
considerable time in the U.S., and stated that Poland had 
much to learn from the U.S. experience.  Gee and Granowski 
also discussed the importance of lobbying and organizing to 
promote the interests of the road building community.  When 
the conversation turned to the environmental law, Gee related 
how the FHWA had learned over the course of time to live and 
work with environmental groups, especially since an ever 
increasing number of private citizens share concerns about 
roads' impact on the environment.  Granowski concurred, but 
mentioned that a balance needed to be struck between 
environmental considerations and the installation of a modern 
transport infrastructure in Poland. 
 
8.  (SBU)  Comment.  Embassy Warsaw continues to monitor GOP 
progress toward creating an adequate highway system, and 
strives to engage the GOP when possible on this important 
issue.  Mr. Gee's visit allowed us to do both simultaneously. 
 Obviously, the GOP will have to solve this problem on their 
own, but visits from U.S. experts such as Mr. Gee reinforce 
their sense of urgency in addressing the issue.  Many of Mr. 
Gee's interlocutors expressed an interest in continuing the 
dialogue started during his visit.  Embassy Warsaw hopes that 
future collaborations with the FHWA and infrastructure 
construction companies will be possible. 
 
9.  (U)  King Gee cleared this cable. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ASHE