During October, the European Commission approved an EU funding programme for EUR 2 billion of investments in urban transport in Poland. The planned investments are part of a wider investment programme, which will contribute to the modernisation of the Polish economy and improve the conditions for its sustainable development.
The funds are part of the ‘European Funds for Infrastructure, Climate and Environment (FEnIKS) 2021-2027′ programme. It is the EU’s largest cohesion policy programme which has been approved, providing EU funding of more than EUR 24.1 billion (EUR 12.9 billion from the European Regional Development Fund and EUR 11.2 billion from the Cohesion Fund).
According to the draft FENIKS programme which has been published by the Polish Ministry of Regional Development Funds and Policy, in the plan there are EUR 2 billion worth of investments included to implement urban transport priorities. It includes EUR 1.44 billion for infrastructure, EUR 460 million for rolling stock and EUR 100 million for digitisation.
Projects in the plan target:
- infrastructure and rolling stock of public collective transport (metro and trams);
- interchange nodes (including P&R car parks outside city centres);
- development of municipal ITS systems;
- improvement of public urban transport services and non-motorized (pedestrian and bicycle) traffic;
- development of IT solutions, including those enabling the implementation of the concept of “Mobility as a service”;
- Support for the acquisition of zero-emission (electric and hydrogen) buses and low-emission (gas LNG, CNG or LPG and hybrid PHEV) buses.
The funding is intended to continue to support voivodship cities and others, which were already eligible for support under the Integrated Territorial Investments (ITIs) instrument of Cohesion Policy 2014–2020. In order to obtain funding from the FEnIKS 2021-2027 programme for investments in the field of sustainable mobility, having a sustainable urban mobility plan (SUMP) or similar mobility plan is a condition. Therefore, the development of mobility plans is supported by the Infrastructure and Environment Program. Nine medium-sized cities and their functional areas have already received support the development of mobility plans under Measure 6.1 OPI & E Development of public collective transport in cities. The development of mobility plans is still supported by the Infrastructure and Environment Program.
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