Simplifying procedures and accelerating the implementation of investments that will increase Poland's security. This is the intent of the government's draft bill, on which Parliament began its work. Yesterday, 2 committees gave the green light to change: defence and administration and home affairs. The fresh law will improve the construction of infrastructure for individuals or the “Hard East”.
Draft law on circumstantial rules for the preparation and implementation of strategical and key investments in the field of state defence and public safety and the establishment of protection zones for certain closed areas was developed by the Ministry of Defence. The aim of the fresh regulations is to simplify and accelerate construction investments for the Polish army, allied troops, peculiar services, services subordinate to the ministry of matters in the area. This involves buildings built in areas that belong to the military or service of the subordinates of the Ministry of abroad Affairs.
In April, the paper was accepted by the Council of Ministers, then sent to work in parliament. On Wednesday, during the gathering of the Joint Committee on National Defence and Administration and Home Affairs, Members took note of the proposed rules. Following the discussion, the majority of the members of the 2 committees were in favour of sending a paper for further work. Now the draft will be discussed by the full Sejm. At this rate of work, the fresh law has a chance to become effective again this year.
– Our main enemy in the current geopolitical situation is time. We ask Parliament to aid make a fresh law, as the package of reinforcement of the armed forces, which provides for large purchases of weapons and equipment from 2023 to 2025, did not include infrastructure preparation for its adoption. In order to keep this equipment in the hands of soldiers, whose number is besides increasing, we request to build fresh facilities rapidly – said Brig. Gen. Jacek Sankowski, manager of the MON Infrastructure Department. Presentation of the draft to the Members Secretary of State at MON Cezary Tomczyk As anecdotal justification for the request to cut red tape related to construction works in military areas, he cited a communicative from the 25th Air Cavalry Brigade, where it took 2 years to replace the door to the secret office as a construction task. “If we wanted to build a fresh ammunition mill in the current legal order, it would gotta take 9 to 11 years,” the Deputy Minister indicated.
Quick procedural path
The draft law provides for 3 categories of investment: key to the needs of state defence, strategical to the needs of state defence, and key to the needs of public safety (for law enforcement or civilian protection and civilian protection services). – The investment process in terms of construction will proceed to be the same, only that, in accordance with the specifics of road and rail investments, we want to radically reduce the time to get decisions to let the implementation of defence and protective buildings by imposing shorter deadlines for obtaining opinions, issuing decisions, handling complaints about their content (revocations) and excluding the application of many provisions slowing down the completion of investment documentation – the representatives of the national defence department provided. The competent authorities will gotta give an opinion on strategical investments within 21 days of receiving the request for an opinion and the local politician will have 90 days to decide on the implementation of specified a construction task.
Interestingly, the bill provides that if Military investor or the arms company will start a strategical investment which will be effectively contested by a natural or legal individual feeling injured, but it will be 30 days after the start of construction, the administrative court can only conclude that the decision has infringed the law. This will not origin any another military effects.
How to rapidly buy land for military investment
The bill regulates the acquisition of real property under State strategical defence investments. This will be done in a akin way as for highway, railway or planned atomic power plants. There will be no forced expropriation, curious landowners and buildings will receive compensation. This issue is of peculiar interest to the members of the Polish Association of Landowners, whose many representation has appeared in the Sejm. Deputy Minister Tomczyk assured the plotters that their demands would be taken into account as far as possible. He added that neither the military nor the government wanted to limit the area and value of the plots. Cezary Tomczyk explained that the rules on land plots were included in the bill just in case there was a request to get these areas in the future, there would be no request to waste time adopting fresh solutions. Landowners who are besides afraid of restrictions on areas adjacent to military units, introduced in the form of protection zones, Deputy Minister Tomczyk calmed down that if it happened somewhere that gardens would border with barracks, no 1 would prohibit their users from farming. In the protection zones, building objects or tallness structures that hinder the military will be prohibited, specified as communications, the designation of the air situation or air operations.
The bill besides settles 2 non-building cases. Firstly, it allows the military (i.e. the de facto Armed Forces Agency, although its name did not die in the document) to buy unmanned vehicles and their means of combating them with disregard for the Public Procurement Law – if our military carried out their tests, these systems received a affirmative advice as a result, and the defence minister himself will agree to acquisition them. Secondly, it allows organisational units (e.g. the Armed Forces Agency, the Military Property Agency) to get jointly with abroad troops, another countries or global organisations (NATO, EU, other) military equipment for the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland, another countries or global organisations. This may take place after the approval of the head of the MON. This provision is intended to facilitate Poland's usage of EU subsidies for joint arms purchases with another countries (e.g. from EDIRPA programmes or SAFE) and the promotion of home arms products so as to save taxpayers' money through greater procurement.
Military waiting for many construction investments. These are for the benefit of the 1st Infantry Division and the 8th Infantry Division, the port in Kolobrzeg, fresh airfields, airbases for helicopters, ammunition depots, and air defence barracks. The fresh law can actually make it easier.
