History of the undertaking

Initially the national road number A4 was not assigned with the status of the motorway; it was developed (with breaks) in the seventies, eighties and nineties by the State Treasury with the budget means. It was not the top quality road, but it was an important communication route connecting two agglomerations – Katowice and Kraków.

During the early transformations of the 1990s, public means were not sufficient to finance all the necessary investments, and there were no means to finance the most expensive investments such as infrastructure investments. Therefore the State Treasury decided to find financing for further modernisation of the A4 road in the private sector. In 1995, the Agency for Motorway Construction and Operation commenced the tender proceedings regarding the launch of the toll motorways programme in Poland and as the first announced a tender to construct by means of adjustment for the purpose of collection of tolls and exploitation of the A4 motorway within the section from Katowice to Kraków. According to the model adopted by the public party, the cost of modernisation of the A4 was to be finally covered by its users, and for the purpose of management of the investment a private entity – concessionaire was to be assigned.
At the same time in the second half of the 1990s, realising its key meaning to the development of both the cities in question, the road owner – State Treasury – decided to modernise the A4. The road was partially repaired within the years 1996-97 with the means of credit granted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (PLN 222 million). The repair included the roadway construction and 5 bridges deemed to be in the worst technical condition.
On September 19, 1997 the Concession Agreement was signed. It specified in detail the rights and obligations of the concessionaire in terms of the project executed thereby.

Financial model

The financial model adopted by the State Treasury in respect of the A4 motorway, Katowice-Kraków section, assumes that in the final settlement within the concession period, the road will be modernised in full and equipped with the motorway infrastructure facilities with the money received from its users, and the public party will receive additional major budget proceeds from the undertaking in question.In 2027 that according to the provisions of the Concession Agreement the section of the motorway in question shall be returned to the management of the State Treasury.