Poland is seeking Cohesion Fund co-financing for 35 projects this year to the tune of 930 million euros. Most applications involve water and sewage system projects.

The Ministry of the Economy will submit applications involving 35 environmental protection projects in Brussels. The combined value of the projects approaches 1.4 billion euros. Poland hopes that EU co-financing for the projects will amount to 67 percent, or 930 million euros. However, it is not known if all the projects will be approved. The EU can provide about 700 million euros for environmental protection annually; repayment will be made in installments.

The National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management received applications involving 195 projects. The fund has selected 71 priority projects, 35 of which have been chosen for co-financing by the end of this year. The European Commission has three months to decide.

Private companies are also eligible for support from the Cohesion Fund for investment projects, but so far not a single project has been submitted. The barrier may be the minimal value of the investment—10 million euros.

The pool of approved projects includes one public-private undertaking involving expansion of a sewage system and construction of a sewage treatment plant in Tarnowskie Góry.

Łódź is applying for the most money, carrying out the second stage of a 94-million-euro water/sewage project. Gdańsk plans investment with a value of zl.450-500 million. Plans include the opening of a modern municipal waste recycling plant worth almost zl.150 million. The projects will be more than 50-percent financed from the Cohesion Fund and the investors’ own funds.

By the end of August, the British company Jacobs Gibb will complete a feasibility study for a water/sewage project covering the closure of the Zaspa treatment plant, expansion of the Wschód treatment plant and water supply for the city exclusively with the use of deep wells. Poznań-based company Fort will prepare a feasibility study for a waste recycling plant. Tenders for performance of the works in question will be announced no earlier than the first half of 2005.