Contract for the digging of the Vistula Spit signed!
A contract was signed at the Harbour Master’s Office in Elbląg for the “Construction of a Waterway Connecting the Vistula Lagoon with the Gulf of Gdańsk”. On behalf of the NDI/Besix consortium, the contract was signed by: NDI President Małgorzata Winiarek – Gajewska and Nic de Roeck, Regional Manager of Besix. Director Wiesław Piotrzkowski signed the contract on behalf of the investor, the Maritime Office in Gdynia.
‘This is an interesting investment and its implementation will be yet another project in the hydraulic engineering industry that NDI can implement with Besix,’ says NDI President Małgorzata Winiarek – Gajewska. In partnership with Besix, we have already built the DCT2 container terminal at the Port of Gdańsk and the cooperation was very good. We will now translate this experience into the investment on the Vistula Spit.’
‘We are very glad that we can continue our work in Poland. We are determined to finish this complex project whilst maintaining the highest standards. We have experience in implementing projects all over the world,’ said Nic de Roeck.
During the ceremony, Marek Gróbarczyk, Minister of Marine Economy and Inland Navigation, took the floor and thanked everyone involved in preparations for the investment. In his speech, he said: “Opening access to the Vistula Lagoon has been a priority for us. It has been said for decades that this investment should be completed. It has been said so, and today this investment is becoming a fact. I also wanted to thank the Contractor – you have a huge task ahead of you, but I believe that you can handle it perfectly well.’
The investment includes the construction of protective harbour from the side of the Gulf of Gdańsk, the construction of a shipping channel with a lock and the construction of closures together with waiting stations from the side of the Gulf of Gdańsk and the Vistula Lagoon, a new road system with movable steel bridges rotating around a vertical axis, which will allow passage over the channel in front of the lock and behind the lock; and the construction of an artificial island located in the Vistula Lagoon. The shipping channel will be 1-kilometre-long and five-metre-deep. Ultimately, it is to enable vessels with a draft of up to 4 metres, length up to 100 metres and width up to 20 metres to enter the port of Elbląg. The construction of the channel through the Vistula Spit is to be completed in 2022. The investor is the Maritime Office in Gdynia. The implementation time from the date of signing the contract is 32 months.
The investment is located within two voivodeships – Pomeranian Voivodeship and Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. The following elements of the project are located within the borders of the Pomeranian Voivodeship, in the Sztutowo and Krynica Morska commune: the construction of a shipping channel through the Vistula Spit, the construction of a waterway in the northern part of the Vistula Lagoon (the border of the voivodeships passes through the centre of the Vistula Lagoon) and the construction of an artificial island. Within the borders of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, the southern part of the waterway in the Vistula Lagoon is located in the commune of Tolkmicko, and the waterway on the Elbląg River with adjacent land areas are located within the Elbląg commune and the city of Elbląg.
