20.12.2021
Poland is among the European leaders of countries investing in construction. According to the latest Budindex 2020/21 report, published by the largest Polish general contractor – Budimex SA, we are second in the ranking in this respect and spend more on construction projects than the EU average.
Throughout 2020, Poland spent 7.4% of GDP on construction investments. This is 1.5 p.p. more than the European Union average, which is 5.8%. This placed our country in second place – just behind Finland. The Finns spend 8% of their GDP on expansion. Greece (1.7%) and Ireland (2.2%) are building the least, according to the report.
Austria and Lithuania are building at the same level as Poland, in relation to their economic potential, and Romania (7.3%) a little less. In 2021, Poland was in the top second position in the ranking of countries investing the most in construction. We would like to draw your attention to the largest construction projects currently under construction in the EU countries. We show the ranking of countries that invest the largest funds in construction, in proportion to their gross domestic product– says Artur Popko – President of Budimex.
The report also presents the largest construction investments in the European Union countries, at the stage of preparation of documentation or construction. There is no shortage of large infrastructure investments in European countries with a one-off value of over PLN 30 billion. The largest of these are, m.in, the construction of a 64-kilometre-long railway tunnel under the Brenner Pass between Austria and Italy, worth more than €8 billion, and the construction of a new water motorway Seine-Scheldt on the Rhine and Seine, worth €8 billion. Our northern neighbours – the Swedes – are building the Stockholm bypass for EUR 2.6 billion.
A unique infrastructure project is also the construction of a 270-km high-speed railway route: Turin-Lyon for EUR 25 billion, i.e. over PLN 100 billion. The completion date of the works is scheduled for the end of 2032. Most of the construction sites are infrastructure projects: rail, road and hydrotechnical.
The implementation of large investments is also associated with problems – as pointed out by the President of Budimex. Looking at what Europe is building, it is worth remembering that even such investment powers as Germany face many difficulties in the effective implementation of large projects. An example is the construction of the Brandenburg airport near Berlin, which lasted over 14 years but was successfully completed – adds Artur Popko.
Place in the ranking – percentage share of the construction sector in relation to GDP in 2020
- Finland 8.0%
- Poland 7.4%
- Austria 7.4%
- Lithuania 7.4%
- Romania 7.3%
- Latvia 7.0%
- Slovakia 6.9%
- Sweden 6.7%
- Estonia 6.4%
- Spain 6.3%
- Croatia 6.3%
- Slovenia 6.3%
- Cyprus 6.3%
- Luxembourg 6.2%
- Germany 6.1%
- Denmark 6.0%
- Czech Republic 6.0%
- Hungary 5.7%
- Belgium 5.5%
- Netherlands 5.4%
- France 5.3%
- Bulgaria 4.9%
- Portugal 4.7%
- Malta 4.5%
- Italy 4.3%
- Ireland 2.2%
- Greece 1.7%
EU average 5.86%
The state sector continues to play a significant role in shaping large investments in Europe. –Polish’s high position in the Budindex 2020/21 ranking, presenting the share of the construction sector in GDP, is undoubtedly due to the spending of significant funds on investments by public and private investors – says Jan Styliński – President of the Association of Construction Industry Employers.
– For over a decade, Poland has been developing at a satisfactory pace, which has resulted in unflagging investments by our entrepreneurs. In addition, public investors allocate record funds to the implementation of transport, energy and social projects. Poland as a country, after years of delays, had many to make up for, but we were able to use external sources of financing – adds Jan Styliński.
The authors of the report point out that the coming years after the COVID-19 pandemic will be marked by public investments and spending huge funds to meet investment needs both in Poland and in Europe.
– It can be risked that at the end of this decade we will be dealing on the one hand with highly specialized smaller companies, in fact technology and construction, and on the other hand with concentration on the part of the largest European construction companies, which will be subject to the processes of consolidation and, to some extent, merger by global corporations, mainly from Asia – forecasts the President of the PZPB Association.
On the list of the largest construction investments in Poland, the reconstruction of the Warszawa Zachodnia station is being carried out . Its modernization will be completed in 2023 and the cost will amount to EUR 0.42 billion.
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