Polish industrial and rail construction set to increase

The rail and industrial construction sectors in Poland are expected to see growth this year, fuelled by EU funding and large planned projects, according to research company PMR.

The value of the country’s rail construction market is expected to rise by one-third in 2014, reaching PLN5.1 billion (€1.2 billion). PMR said the sector was set to receive more than €10 billion from the new EU financial budget, while the development of new railway lines – valued at PLN15 billion (€3.6 billion) – would also be a major boost.

However, it added that it was unlikely that all of the new railway line projects would eventually get underway. Nevertheless, it said it expected rail market output to continue at a high level throughout 2015 on the back of numerous completions of projects co-financed from the previous EU financial budget.

Industrial market

Meanwhile, PMR also estimated that the value of the Polish industrial construction market topped €4.8 billion in 2013. This market comprises industrial and warehouse buildings, transmission lines and industrial complexes, and PMR said construction and assembly output generated by this segment was forecast to continue to improve in the short term.

It said a clearly positive indication for growth was the launch of the construction of power units at the Opole power plant in southern Poland. It said this project alone would generate an output of around PLN2 billion (€480 million) a year between 2014 and 2015.

Other major projects were also expected to get underway, including the construction of a power generation unit at the Jaworzno facility, also in southern Poland, which PMR said could generate an annual output of PLN1 billion (€240 million) in four years.

In addition, it forecast that the value of investment projects involving electricity distribution lines would exceed PLN40 billion (€9.5 billion) between 2014 and 2019.

Meanwhile, the annual number of new industrial and warehouse buildings has been between 3,100 and 3,200 in recent years, of which around 70% have been reservoirs, silos and warehouses, PMR said. Last year, it said 255 authorisations for these kind of projects, worth a total of PLN7.5 billion (€1.8 billion), were issued.