Poland boosts infrastructure with new draft act on streamlining the investment process

In the face of growing challenges in national security and defence, Poland’s government is developing a package of measures to facilitate the implementation of infrastructure investments, including new provisions in the Special Act on Defence Investments (see here), a recent amendment enabling faster acquisition of land for defence projects, and the latest legislative initiative from the Ministry of Infrastructure – the Draft Act on streamlining the investment process for key infrastructure investments (Parliamentary printed matter no. UD262).

The Draft Act creates a legal framework that will significantly accelerate the implementation of projects of fundamental importance to the state, such as roads, ports, rail lines, airports, and energy infrastructure. In this way, the government seeks to combine security imperatives with long-term development priorities. The Draft Act should not only simplify and shorten administrative procedures, but also introduce special rules for acquiring real estate for key public investments, with the goal of ensuring greater efficiency and transparency of the public administration, especially in situations where response time is of strategic significance.

Catalogue of key investments

The Draft Act introduces a catalogue of “key investments”, made up of infrastructure projects of strategic importance to the state with a direct impact on defence capabilities, security, economic development and the resilience of the country’s infrastructure. The legislator notes that their construction and commissioning require special legal measures enabling a substantial acceleration of the investment process. Projects placed in this category include:

• energy projects of fundamental importance (including the ancillary infrastructure for the construction of Poland’s first nuclear power station in the Pomeranian Voivodeship);
• modernisation and expansion of major airports (Kraków-Balice, Warsaw Chopin Airport, Rzeszów- Jasionka and Warsaw-Modlin);
• construction and widening of selected sections of national roads (including national road no. 7 leading to the ferry terminal in Gdynia);
• maritime economy investments (including outer harbours in Świnoujście and Gdynia and improvements to access to port terminals in Gdańsk);
• strategic railway lines (including Szczecin-Świnoujście, Wrocław-Szczecin and Warsaw-Gdańsk);
• flood‑protection investments (including the Kamieniec Ząbkowicki reservoir and measures to secure the Vistula valley);
• elements of the railway radio communications system.

These projects were selected for their impact on the development of transport, energy and natural‑hazard protection systems. These areas most strongly shape the country’s security, defence and economic development and are central to the deregulation measures under consideration. The Draft Act’s special mechanisms will bring about procedural streamlining specifically in relation to key investments.

Acceleration and streamlining of the investment process

The Draft Act provides a range of legal instruments designed to reduce the exposure of key investments to risks from delays in the investment process and to make it easier for investors to carry that process out. Measures include shortening time limits for the issuance of the most important administrative permits in the investment process (including environmental decisions and permission to carry out road investments), facilitating withdrawal from an approved plot or site development plan and from an architectural and construction design, introducing special rules for cooperation with heritage protection authorities (to reduce the risk of work stoppage in the event of the discovery of a potential antiquity), and removing the obligation to obtain a building permit for certain maritime and rail transport investments, replacing it with a simplified building notification requirement.

The legislator has also proposed introducing shortened time limits for the consideration of appeals against administrative permits issued for key investments. The filing of an appeal, however, will be made more difficult, thereby reducing the risk of appeals lodged solely to delay projects rather than to protect the appellant’s rights. The removal of trees and shrubs in the implementation of key investments is to be made easier and less costly.

Special rules for the acquisition of real estate

The Draft Act also includes special rules for the acquisition of real estate designated for key investments to accelerate the investment process while ensuring fair compensation for owners. An investor will be able to acquire property at a price calculated using one of several methods specified in the Draft Act, simplifying expropriation procedures, including the surrender of possession and the right to use the property. These measures are intended to secure the efficient delivery of projects while respecting owners’ interests while serving the principal objective of the proposed regulations – to define the limits that public funds may be expended on property acquisition in a manner consistent with purposefulness and prudent financial management.

Conclusion

The draft amendment opens the way to a dynamic modernisation of infrastructure, reinforcing the country’s economic and defence foundations. From both an economic and strategic perspective, the Draft Act responds to the fact that the pace of delivery for major infrastructure projects in Poland frequently fails to match the scale of geopolitical and modernisation challenges facing the state.

In the face of pressure to strengthen defence capabilities, expand transport networks and manage the energy transition, procedural streamlining may yield tangible benefits. Viewed holistically, the Draft Act can be seen as an attempt to create a legal “fast track” for projects of critical importance – a tool that could bolster the state’s capacity to act decisively and efficiently. The ultimate assessment of the new provisions will, however, depend on whether the acceleration of investment processes is achieved without undermining the values underpinning sustainable long‑term development, such as transparency, public trust and a balanced reconciliation of the public interest with individual rights.

For more information on this Draft Act and the modernisation of Poland’s infrastructure, contact your CMS client partner or the experts who wrote this article:Karol Jaworecki, Dominika Markowicz