Krakow, Poland.
Under “The Odra-Vistula Flood Management Project”, #OVFMP, the State Water Holding Polish Waters has started comprehensive improvements to Kraków’s flood protection system. The implementation of this investment will provide protection for 40,000 residents and facilities of strategic importance for the city.
On January 19, 2021 the State Water Holding Polish Waters signed a contract with the company Skanska SA to rehabilitate the flood embankments of the Vistula River in Kraków. This investment will involve improvements to 20 km of dikes in three districts of Kraków: Podgórze, Czyżyny, and Nowa Huta. Works will also be carried out in a part of the Municipality of Wieliczka.
It is estimated that the improved flood embankments will protect 40,000 residents and their property within an area of 31 km². What is significant, they will also protect important industrial facilities, among others the following:
- Kraków Combined Heat and Power Plant in Łęg;
- Płaszów and Kujawy wastewater treatment plants;
- Thermal Waste Treatment Plant;
- Arcelor Mittal Steelworks; and
- industrial and service facilities located in Lipska, Jana Surzyckiego, Rybitwy, and Christo Botewa Streets.
The Contract includes the following:
- Section 1 – the left embankment of the Vistula River from the Wanda Bridge to the Przewóz barrage, including the backwater embankments of the Dłubnia River;
- Section 2 – the left embankment of the Vistula River from the Przewóz barrage to Suchy Jar;
- Section 3 – the right embankment of the Vistula River from the Dąbie barrage to the Przewóz barrage.
The planned works include rehabilitation of the dikes that will involve expansion and raising of the body of the Vistula embankments, including the backwater embankment of the Dłubnia River. Under this Contract, it is also planned to:
- remove or (re)construct embankment crossings and service roads, which will involve their expansion and extension as well as connecting them to the crest of the rehabilitated dikes;
- remove or (re)construct existing road infrastructure, which will involve its expansion and extension as well as connecting it with the rehabilitated dikes;
- protect, remove, construct, or relocate existing power supply, natural gas supply, telecommunications, water supply, sewage, and district heating systems;
- remove or (re)construct other embankment structures (embankment culverts, cut-off walls).
The planned cost of these investments is more than PLN 93 million. Works will start in 2021 and last until the middle of 2022. This project is financed by the Government of the Republic of Poland from state budget funds as well as from the loans of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (no. 8524 – PL) and the Council of Europe Development Bank (no. LD 1866).
