A visit paid by the president of the Board of the Port of Gdansk Authority SA at the construction site of the shroud bridge over the Martwa Wisla

22.05.2001

The contractual deadline (15 October 2001) is approaching for completion of the construction works on the shroud bridge suspended over the Martwa Wisla together with access roads from the Sucharskiego Route. This investment, whose idea was developed and prepared in the Port of Gdansk Authority SA constitutes a turning point when it comes to the expansion of Port Gdansk, particularly its eastern part. A successful completion of the works will provide reliable grounds for the implementation of port investments in the Northern Port and the Logistics Centre. It will also comprise a valuable asset in terms of the future land development of the port and industrial area.

This investment draws interest on the part of the investors, who launch development of new terminals, as well as those, who in future intend to make investment in the adjoining grounds. Therefore, it undoubtedly plays the vital role as far as the port's expansion strategy is concerned. To express his concern about successful accomplishment of the construction works, on 16 May 2001, the President of the Board of the Port of Gdansk Authority SA Marian Switek held a detailed examination of the aggregate of the matters in relation to this investment and personally conducted a survey assessment of its key areas. The necessary explanation was furnished by the chief contractor Demathieu and Bard and Mosty Lodz, namely, the President Stanislaw Pawelski, the Director Maciej Targowski and the construction site manager Lucjan Malinowski on the one hand, and a Resident Engineer of the World's Bank Zdzislaw Korejwo on behalf of the investor's supervision.

There is 5 months left until the completion of the works. The financial and material scope of the implemented works amounts to approx. 85%. All the technological problems have been successfully overcome and solved including those related to the Poland's first ever cantilever assembly of the principle bridge span, which adds to the investment's attractiveness towards the Polish engineering specialists. So far, a number of 9 out of 15 sections of the principle span have been mounted, which are prefabricated at the Industrial Wharf, carried to the construction site on barges and, by means of highly complex equipment supplied by the Swiss company of BBR, lifted to the level of a mounted part of a span. This is followed by establishing of correct geometrical positioning of a section, which is finally mounted to backstays to be stretched in compliance to the computer-aided calculations. The overall process repeatedly checked in the course of the consecutive operations. At the end of the assembly works of all sections the geometrical positioning and the backstays are to be properly adjusted to match the values stipulated in the project. The access roads to the bridge from Elblaska Street and Wosia Budzysza Street, upon erecting the embankments in the year 2000 and their consolidation, have now been approved by the construction supervisor for finishing works consisting in development of the road structure.

Keeping the deadline for the accomplishment of the aggregate of technical works seems most likely. However, the financial aspects of the investment constitute a troublesome issue. For some time now the budget problems of the State require huge efforts from the persons responsible to maintain financial continuity of the project. This is not the first time that the President Marian Switek has been compelled to intervene in order to assure financial continuity. So far all the investments have proved successful, which substantially contributed to maintaining high moral attitude among a large team of employees working for this construction bearing in mind that the funds are scarcely available. Clear and transparent principles for settlement of accounts and detailed records of the performed scope of works related to financial support for implementation of 50% of works from the World's Bank presented a large group of Polish specialists with the opportunity to acquire new knowledge on methods of labour organization, elimination of unnecessary expenditure, as well as compliance with the quality standards never practiced before.

As a conclusion of his visit to the construction site President Marian Switek expressed his gratitude to all the team of workers active at this section of great importance to the port. He wished for a happy and successful receiving celebration of the works in keeping with the scheduled deadline.