“Thursday 30 June marks the end of the construction of the barrier”, said Lieutenant Anna Michalska, spokeswoman of the Border Guard Headquarters. The construction of the physical barrier, which will stand on the 187km Podlasie section of the Polish-Belarusian border, began on 25 January.

“We are receiving successive sections of the physical barrier all the time on an ongoing basis. Several sections a day. The works, as well as the installation of the spans, last every day until late in the evening”, informed Michalska.

In parallel with the physical barrier, the construction of an electronic barrier to secure the 202 kilometres section of the Polish border has started. The Border Guard is estimating to complete it by the end of August this year. According to a Border Guard spokeswoman, a further 30 days will be needed for calibration, i.e. the alignment of all systems. Thus, the Polish-Belarusian border should be both physically and electronically secured from 1 October.

The physical barrier is a 5.5-metre high steel fence topped with concertina wire. More than 40,000 steel spans were used in its construction. The electronic barrier will cover all sections of the physical barrier, as well as part of the boundary waters. Modern electronic border management methods such as motion sensors and cameras will be used.

The physical barrier includes 24 passages for large animals and 140,000 openings for small animals, as well as culverts on existing watercourses.

The physical barrier is being built by Budimex and a consortium of Unibep and subsidiary Budrex. Its steel elements were made by a consortium of three companies: Polimex-Mostostal, Mostostal Siedlce and Węglokoks. The electronic barrier will be created by Elektrotim. The value of the contracts with all these companies is PLN 1 billion 565 million.

Adrian Andrzejewski