Polish gov’t pledges billions to improve local transport

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said his conservative government would spend PLN 6 billion (EUR 1.4 billion, USD 1.6 billion) this year to modernise local roads and it would also offer special subsidies to reinstate bus services to many small towns and rural areas to make life easier for residents.

Infrastructure Minister Andrzej Adamczyk told reporters the subsidies for bus routes would come to PLN 800 million every year in a bid to eliminate "transport exclusion" and remove "blank spots" in the bus service network.

The initiative comes as part of a wider spending package unveiled by Poland’s governing conservatives last month.

Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party in late February announced an expansion of its flagship 500+ child benefit programme, in addition to a string of other promises.

Party leader Jarosław Kaczyński said at a convention in Warsaw that his ruling conservatives’ 500+ programme of giving families with two or more children a handout of PLN 500 (USD 133, EUR 116) a month per child would be broadened to include families with just one child.

Kaczyński also said that the lower personal income tax rate would be cut from 18 to 17 percent and that people under 26 would be exempt from paying personal income tax.

Among the pledges announced during the convention were also additional benefits for pensioners and more bus connections to smaller towns.

The Polish prime minister said in October his government would reinstate and create new rail links for many small towns across the country to connect them with larger urban centres.

(gs/pk)

Source: IAR, PAP