Back in 2007, having just been awarded joint hosting rights along with the Ukraine for the UEFA European Football Championship 2012, Poland was in a celebratory mood, having see the impossible dream come true.
But with just one year to go before the big event kicks off, dark clouds are forming above the capital Warsaw, as the city struggles to be ready in time for the event.
It’s become quite evident that on the infrastructure side, things haven’t gone as planned, and now the country is facing a race against time to get key stadiums built and ready for next summer.
One of the biggest disasters has been Warsaw’s new Stadion Narodowy, or National Stadium, which has been hampered by numerous construction problems. Originally scheduled to be completed by May of this year, it’s looking more and more unlikely that the stadium will be ready in time for its first big game – an exhibition match against Germany in September.
Indeed, they’ll be too complete the project this year the way things have been going.
Numerous errors, including a leaky roof in this supposedly state-of-the-art waterproof stadium, as well as staircases being built to the wrong specifications have resulted in the stadium being six months behind schedule and hugely over-budget.
The venue has become easily the largest sports-related project in the country’s history, so far costing half a billion Euros, with costs still rising. The finished stadium will be able to hold 58,000 spectators, and will be equipped with modern facilities, amenities, VIP areas, with an additional 860 seats reserved just for the media.
But this has also been a source of criticism Poland. While it bodes well for Euro 2012, what’s going to happen to the stadium afterwards, people have asked? With top Polish clubs and the Polish national team rarely attracting crowds above 20,000, it all seems a little excessive.
There are other problems too. Authorities had originally planned a new subway line linking the stadium to the city center. However, this has also suffered setbacks, with officials already admitting it won’t be ready until a year after the Euro Finals have taken place.
Roads are another problem, with major planned routes to the cities of Lodz and Gdansk remaining far from complete. The main link between Warsaw and Western Europe (Lodz) is currently little more than a huge black hole and desperately needs to be finished. However, it appears that the Chinese construction company contracted to build the road have run out of money – recently they were unable to pay subcontractors and it looks like they will have to abort the contract.
The Gdansk road heading north is also still under construction, as is the main road link to Ukraine. The problem is compounded by the poor state of Poland’s rail links – a train trip to Ukraine currently takes longer than it did during World War II.
Out of the four stadiums Poland is meant to provide for the tournament, only one, Poznan’s Municipal Stadium, has been finished. As well as Warsaw, those in Gdansk and Wroclaw are still being built, though they are at least currently on track to be ready in time.
Poland will need to overcome some immense complications to be ready for next summer, but the feeling is that things will work out okay. Much work remains to be done, but the general feeling is that while these infrastructure projects are going to be rushed, the nation is going to receive in the next 12 months what it would otherwise have to have waited five to ten years for had there been no Euro 2012.
The highways, whether or not they are made ready in time, will serve the Poles for decades, while the modern stadiums would probably never have arrived without the championships.
All in all, it’s estimated that Euro 2012 will cost the country 22 billion Euros – a huge expense for the country no doubt, but one that will guarantee the country an infrastructure to rival many Western European countries and allow it to take a huge leap forward.