The opening on Sep. 17 of a new canal that will cut across the Vistula Spit will be highly symbolic, the Deputy Minister for Infrastructure Marek Gróbarczyk has said.
The Vistula Spit canal, which will enable Polish ships to access the Baltic without a need to pass through Russian-controlled waters, will be a “reversal of history” according to Gróbarczyk, given what is happening in Ukraine and Russian attempts to block the completion of the project.
The minister hailed the opening of “a new waterway that for years had been closed and controlled by Russia.”
The construction of the Vistula Spit canal enables the port of Elbląg and other ports in the Vistula basin to have direct and quick access to the Baltic Sea without the need to sail through Russian territorial waters of the Kaliningrad region, making Poland more independent and sovereign.
No longer will Polish and other vessels have to seek permission to sail through Russian waters to reach the Baltic Sea.
According to the contractors NDI/Besix, the work is proceeding according to plan. The work on the locks has been finished and what remains are cosmetics such as anti-corrosion and hydro-technics tests of movement.
Once that has been completed the canal will gradually be filled with water via the use of pumps. The waterway is 23 km long, 2.5 km of which is made up of the lock mechanism and port. The canal is to be 5 meters deep.
