Poland to build new dam, power plant on Vistula river

Poland’s largest river, the Vistula, will be the home of a new dam combined with a power plant, government officials announced.

The project will cost more than €470m, according to the country’s environment ministry.

As reported by Radio Poland, officials from the environment, energy and inland navigation ministries signed an agreement to go ahead with the project.

The dam, combined with an 80 MW hydroelectric power plant, will be built in the village of Siarzewo, not far from an existing dam in the north-central city of Włocławek which has been in operation for over 40 years.

Construction work will begin in 2020 with completion scheduled for 2025, the environment ministry said, cited by the PAP news agency.

According to Poland’s environment ministry said the new dam would improve flood safety and help restore the navigability of the Vistula, which is over 1,000 km in length and runs across the middle of the country, emptying into the Baltic Sea.