Poland is building a channel through the Baltic spit, to put an end to the “Russian dictatorship” and to expand its territory
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Poland intends to create an artificial island in the Kaliningrad (Vistula) Bay is in the process of construction of a ship canal across the Baltic spit, according to the Polish cultural center in Kaliningrad. This channel will allow you to develop navigation bypassing the Russian territories on the Baltic. Stated even that the canal will put an end to the “Russian dictatorship”.
“Under the project of artificial island should have an area of approximately 181 hectares and must be localized in the Vistula Bay. There is collected material that is extracted from the bottom of the Bay when digging (and building a shipping channel through the Baltic spit). Thus, the area of Poland will be more”, – stated in the message. The new island will be visible from space, claims Gazeta Wyborcza.
It is planned that the island will have a height of 2-3 meters above sea level. Currently, Poland does not use this sushi for tourism.
The construction of the canal through the Baltic spit, which will link the Vistula lagoon from Gdansk Bay, is a political project of the former Prime Minister and Chairman of ruling conservative party “law and justice” (PiS) Jaroslaw Kaczynski. The cost of works is estimated at PLN 880 million (236 million 476 thousand dollars), but most likely it will grow.
Additionally, in November 2018, work began on a canal through the Baltic spit. It will be built in the settlement of the New World, where is the narrowest place of the sandy Peninsula. Length of navigable channel will be 1 kilometer, and the depth is 5 meters. It will connect the Baltic sea with Kaliningrad Bay and to the port of Elblag could go larger vessels up to 100 meters and a width of 20 meters.
In Poland declare that the canal, whose construction will be completed in 2022, will allow the intensification of shipping under flags of EU countries in the Gulf, bypassing the territorial waters of Russia. Currently, the pass into the Bay is possible only through the Russian port of Baltiysk (the main naval base of the Baltic fleet), which is very problematic due to lengthy approval procedures.
In the EU there were fears that the channel will have a negative impact on the ecological situation in the region. The Ministry of natural resources in the fall of 2017 also expressed concern about the plans of Poland to construct a canal in the vicinity of the Kaliningrad region, writes The Insider.
Polish media noted that the construction of the canal will put an end to the “Russian dictatorship”. As explained Jaroslaw Kaczynski, this channel is not only economically important for the city and for part of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, but it also demonstrates Polish sovereignty.
The project demonstrates that “the days when the Russians told us what we can and cannot do in our territory is over,” said the brother who was killed in 2010 plane crash near Smolensk Polish President Lech Kaczynski.
Commenting on the statement “various forces” at the potential environmental damage from the project, the politician reminded about the “Nord stream 1 and Nord stream-2”. “The pipeline is a violation of ecological safety in the Baltic sea, and in the construction of the canal there are no threats,” he said.
In 2017, the Minister of natural resources of Russia Sergey Donskoy wrote to the Minister of the environment of Poland Jan Szyszko letter, which noted that the nature of the Baltic spit is extremely vulnerable to human impacts. As noted by Russian experts, the construction of the canal will require coast protection works in order to avoid skidding of the fairway sand. In addition, the experts pointed out, because of melkovodnoe Kaliningrad lagoon will need to conduct extensive dredging for the transaction of large vessels.
The Ministry pointed out that Russia relies on the responsible approach of the Polish authorities to preserve the unique environment and biodiversity of the area, and will also provide information on the project to all the countries of the Baltic region before deciding on the construction.