The navigation channel through the Vistula Spit was launched on Saturday. The canal was officially opened by President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. The ceremony was also attended by the President of the Law and Justice party Jarosław Kaczyński and government ministers.
“The opening of this investment, its completion and launch is a great victory for Poland, for patriots; for all those who understand the word sovereignty and the meaning of sovereignty including internal as well as external, inter-state meanings”, said President Andrzej Duda.
The President stressed that the Polish economy needed a passage through the Vistula Spit to become independent of decisions made by the Russian authorities, without which it was impossible for Polish ships to enter the Vistula Lagoon from the Baltic Sea through the Pilawa Strait.
The newly created canal will enable ships to enter the Vistula Lagoon from the Bay of Gdansk avoiding the Russian coastal zone. Ships with a draught of 4.5 metres, a length of up to 100 metres and a width of up to 20 metres will be able to use the waterway.
“Today, we are shedding our dependence on Russia. The Pilawa Strait was one of the symbols of Poland’s geopolitical dependence on Russia. Today we are getting rid of this figure from the political chessboard. We are also getting rid of another dependence, gas dependence, which is suffocating Europe, destroying economic growth, creating inflation and generating gigantic tensions that are a hope for Russia”, said Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
The President of the Law and Justice party Jarosław Kaczyński said that the opening of the canal is the beginning of building the position of the port of Elbląg as the fourth important port of Poland. According to him, the investment proves that Poland can carry out large infrastructure investments.
The Vistula Spit Crossing will be completed in its entirety next year. Initially, the cost of the investment was estimated at PLN 880 million, but the prices of construction materials have gone up. In total, the crosscut is expected to cost PLN 2 billion.
Arkadiusz Słomczyński