Skip to main content

Legal tangle over Polish highway project

The complex legal tangle over Poland's troubled A2 highway project is continuing to develop.
February 29, 2012 Read time: 1 min
The complex legal tangle over Poland's troubled A2 highway project is continuing to develop. The Polish road authority, 1361 GDDKiA, has launched a legal bid for compensation from the Chinese construction firm 2487 COVEC, which had a contract to build a number of sections of the highway. COVEC was hit by spiralling materials costs once work started and was forced to relinquish its contract for the project by the Polish authorities after failing to meet construction deadlines. However COVEC has also launched a counter-suit against GDDKiA for compensation for its losing the contract. The size of COVEC's compensation claim from GDDKiA has not been revealed. However GDDKiA is said to be asking for ?200 million compensation from COVEC. The legal case looks likely to rumble on through the Polish courts for some time. There is also a risk of further or additional action in Europe's courts from other parties involved in this complex legal dispute. COVEC is a subsidiary of 890 China Railway Group Limited.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Budimex consortium win Poland’s Ostroda ringroad court case
    March 18, 2015
    A district court in the Polish town of Olsztyn has ruled in favour of a consortium of Budimex and Ferrovial Agroman which challenged the awarding of a ringroad contract to a rival. The ruling means that the Salini consortium’s winning bid for the construction of a ringroad around Ostroda is overturned on the basis that it was ineffectually low. This means that the contract will go to the Budimex consortium which proposed to build the road for around €223 million. Polish builder Budimex is the consortium's m
  • Poland's ambitious highway construction plans
    July 10, 2012
    The European football championships are among a number of things pushing Poland's ambitious highway building programme. Patrick Smith reports. Poland is planning to spend a colossal €4.57 billion on road projects in 2009, a 35% increase over the previous year. T
  • Polish projects pushing ahead
    October 6, 2016
    Key road projects in Poland look set to move forward. A tender process will commence shortly for a project in Lodz. Poland’s road authority, GDDKiA, will start the Western ring-road tender process. Poland's Infrastructure Ministry will give the go-ahead. The project involves building under 29km of the S14 dual carriageway to complete the circle around Lodz. The project is expected to be worth close to €392 million in all. The first stage runs from the Lodz Lublinek junction to the Lodz Teofilow junction and
  • EIB aids funding for Poland's A2
    July 12, 2012
    The European Investment Bank (EIB) will help funding of the A2 highway project in Poland, which has faced financing problems due to the economic crisis. The EIB is making an exception to its usual policy by granting to Polish company Autostrada Wielkopolska credit that covers over 50% of the costs of the construction work for a highway section. The EIB will provide €1 billion for the A2 investment and to create an option of an additional €200 million. The total value of the investment, which is expected to