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Anne W McNeill  10/10/2006 04:56:01 PM  From  DB/Inbox:  Search Results

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UNCLAS        WARSAW 01679

SIPDIS
CXWARSAW:
    ACTION: ECON
    INFO:   FCS DCM ADM MGT ORA POL AMB PAS

DISSEMINATION: ECOX
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: ECON:RRORVIG
DRAFTED: ECON:MKATULA
CLEARED: NONE

VZCZCWRI347
RR RUEHC RUEHZL RUEHKW RUEHLN RUEHBS
DE RUEHWR #1679/01 2231455
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 111455Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY WARSAW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1644
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHKW/AMCONSUL KRAKOW 1260
RUEHLN/AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG 0015
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS

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. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Security and Commercial Development 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶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. 
 
--------------------------- 
Arguments Against the Canal 
--------------------------- 
 
¶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. 
 
----------------------- 
On the Heels of Rospuda 
----------------------- 
 
¶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. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
HILLAS