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Work progressed on the construction of the second stage of the waterway: Vistula Lagoon – Gdańsk Bay

News date: August 12, 2022
Work progressed on the construction of the second stage of the waterway: Vistula Lagoon – Gdańsk Bay

Work is progressing on the second stage of the construction of the waterway linking the Vistula Lagoon with the Gdańsk Bay. The contract between the investor, the Maritime Office in Gdynia, and the contractor, Budimex SA, was signed in April last year. The value of the contract is more than PLN 574 million and the completion time is 24 months.

 

‘Soon, on 17 September, we will open the Shipping Canal through the Vistula Spit. This is the first stage of a major project to build a new waterway that will enable the port of Elbląg to be connected with the Baltic Sea. One of the elements of the investment linking the Vistula Lagoon with the Gdansk Bay is the work on the Elbląg River with the construction of the rotating bridge in Nowakowo.  I am particularly pleased that work on this task is also proceeding according to schedule, and that the progress of the works has already reached the halfway point’, said Deputy Infrastructure Minister Marek Gróbarczyk.

 

The works under the contract encompass alteration of the existing fairway on the Elbląg river, and specifically, the reconstruction of the banks that will ultimately take over the flood control function of the earth embankments, construction of low marinas facilitating access to the river, and construction of a swing bridge over the Elbląg river in Nowakowo, plus modification of the road system.

 

‘The construction of the waterway connecting the Vistula Lagoon with the Gdańsk Bay is entering a decisive stage. An element very closely related to the second stage is the district road and bridge in Nowakowo, which we are building as a new crossing. The steel structure is currently being prefabricated on site. We have the reinforced concrete structures of all the supports on site. Finishing works related to these supports are in progress’, says Andrzej Małkiewicz, deputy plenipotentiary for project implementation from the Maritime Office in Gdynia.

 

Currently, as part of the investment, the contractor for the second stage, Budimex, is carrying out hydrotechnical works such as sheet piling and anchoring, micropile works and reinforced concrete works.

 

‘At the moment, mainly pile driving works are being carried out. We have completed 80% of the driving of the sheet piles, as well as more than half of the micropiles and tongs anchoring this structure. The entire contract is about 50% completed. At the moment, there are about 200 workers and more than 20 vessels working on the site. We have 5 sheet pile driving units and 5 micropile driving units on site. We plan to finish the driving of sheet piles in September or October. In August, we complete the supports for the bridge structure and start the installation of the steel structure. In October, we will start the road works, which we also intend to complete to a large extent this year’, says Grzegorz Małasiewicz, Hydrotechnical Director of the Budimex SA District.

 

The purpose of the investment is to invigorate the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in particular the port of Elbląg. This new infrastructure solution is intended to drive the economic growth of the whole region. The construction of the new waterway will open economic growth opportunities to all ports of the Vistula Lagoon and will substantially shorten the way across the Strait of Baltiysk by almost 100 kilometres.

 

When all the work is completed, the waterway linking the Vistula Lagoon with the Gdańsk Bay will allow vessels up to 100 metres long and 20 metres wide with a draught of 4.5 metres to enter the port of Elbląg.