EU funds for flood recovery
On 23 July this year Poland submitted an application to the European Commission for financial assistance from the Solidarity Fund. Currently, the Commission is examining the application. The grants will be allocated, among other things, to reconstruction of local infrastructure, i.e. water supply system, sewage systems, roads and bridges destroyed by the flood this year. The damage cause by the disaster exceeds EUR 2.9 billion (including agricultural damage).
The flood that Poland suffered from in May and June affected around 266 thousand people, with 31 thousand people evacuated. A total of 811 gminas and around 1300 businesses have suffered damage.
Around 80 thousand kilometers of roads in voivodships, gminas and poviats have been destroyed by this year’s flood. A stretch of 1160 km of national routes and 59 bridges have to be reconstructed and 111 landslides removed.
More than 680 thousand ha of land and 18 thousand buildings were flooded. A total of 400 km of railways need to be reconstructed, with 82.5 km of railways closed off for traffic and speed limits introduced at a stretch of 321 km of roads.
Also 1 300 km of dikes need to be modernized or completely reconstructed.
More than 800 schools and 160 kindergartens have been affected by the flood.
The voivodships that have experienced the most severe damage include: Małopolskie, Podkarpackie, Śląskie, Świętokrzyskie, Opolskie and Lubelskie Voivodships.
The damage incurred as a result of the flood estimated on 8 July 2010 is more than EUR 2.9 billion. This amount is higher than 0.6% of the GDP in 2009, which made it possible to submit an application to the European Commission for the financial assistance in recovery from a grave natural disaster.
The Ministry of Interior and Administration in cooperation with the members of the Interministerial Team, the Ministry of Regional Development, and Voivodes drafted an application to the Solidarity Fund of the EU.
In order to guarantee effective coordination of activities performed to estimate damage caused by flood the Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, established an Interministerial Team for the estimation of 2010 flood damages chaired by Tomas Siemoniak, Undersectretary of State at the MIA. Its members also include representatives from the Ministries of Finance, Economy, Infrastructure, Labour and Social Policy, Agriculture and Rural Development, Environment and Health, as well as the Government Security Centre and National Water Management Authority.
The Solidarity Fund provides assistance in a form of a single grant specified by the European Commission individually on the basis of the information provided by a Member State.
The grant from the Fund may be used to cover some state budget expenses incurred for flood recovery at public facilities. The EU assistance will make it possible to pay for repairs of power infrastructure, water supply systems and sewage systems, as well as telecommunications infrastructure, road transport, health care and schools. The funds will also be used for cleaning up activities in the areas affected by floods.
The grant will also be used to finance rescue services actions in the flooded areas, as well as actions taken to protect national heritage facilities.
The funds will not cover damage recovery of insurable local infrastructure. Neither can it be used to pay for private damage.
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