Poland’s construction sector should brace for serious disruption once Ukraine’s postwar rebuilding finally begins, warns Damian Kaźmierczak, vice-president of the Polish Construction Employers Association (PZPB). He predicts higher project costs, shortages of building materials and a rapid outflow of Ukrainian workers from Polish sites.
In an interview for WNP.PL, Kaźmierczak described the discussion about Polish contractors’ role in the future reconstruction as 'reading tea leaves’. The war is still going on and no one has presented a coherent plan for financing or carrying out the task. He stressed that trade with Ukraine already flourishes, but strong participation by Polish construction companies on the ground is a completely different matter.
Polish builders were active in Ukraine before the war. Polimex Mostostal has a steel structures plant in western Ukraine, while Unibep delivered several commercial real estate projects. Two recent examples show how risky the market can be: the Medyka-Szeginie border crossing and a waste processing plant in Lviv. Kaźmierczak pointed to systemic corruption, which he called hard to imagine from a Western perspective, and noted that Turkish construction firms cope with Ukrainian realities best.
Political climate and weak state support
Polish-Ukrainian political disputes inevitably affect business. Kaźmierczak said the attitude of Ukrainian elites towards Poland is not particularly positive and the situation has the potential to escalate further. He warned that no red carpet will be rolled out for Polish investors, even though a surprisingly large part of Polish public opinion still counts on it.
– Without the effective support of a strong state, Polish business will not build strong footholds on a market as risky as Ukraine. I do not see a comprehensive, well-thought-out support system today – it is definitely too weak – said Kaźmierczak.
He cited Japan as an example of determined economic diplomacy, with Japanese companies backed by their government and using international institutions such as UN agencies. Polish development bodies – PFR, BGK, KUKE and PAIH – offer help but lack capacity and proper structures in Ukraine, and their actions often overlap. Kaźmierczak also said the Industrial Development Agency (ARP) acted for months as the leader of the reconstruction topic even though it lacks the right tools, and that several ministries – state assets, finance and economy, foreign affairs, infrastructure – are not coordinating their work. Poland currently has no ambassador in Kyiv. In many cases, he added, support reaches firms only thanks to individual, heroic efforts of people working inside state institutions. Poland should also build a strong diplomatic corps with Eastern expertise and use centres such as PISM and OSW.
Funds, consortiums and the domestic market
PZPB has long proposed a reconstruction fund financed from the Polish budget and dedicated to projects that serve Poland’s long-term interests, not reconstruction for its own sake. Kaźmierczak mentioned transport corridors to the Black Sea, expansion of Ukrainian ports, a highway or high-speed rail link to Lviv and energy networks in western Ukraine. He argued that Poland should use its money to gain influence over contractor selection. Ukraine would prefer to keep control of spending, but no donor will accept that formula. Politicians have talked about such a fund for four years, yet an election year, tensions between Warsaw and Kyiv, growing anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Poland and anti-Polish sentiment in Ukraine make its creation unlikely.
– Rebuilding Ukraine will generate enormous tensions on the Polish construction market. There would almost certainly be a rise in investment costs, shortages of materials and a sudden outflow of Ukrainian workers – he warned.
Polish contractors are therefore looking at projects financed by international institutions such as the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank and UN agencies, where international procedures reduce exposure to Ukraine’s opaque procurement system. Another route could be consortiums with Western partners, with Polish companies as equal players rather than subcontractors. Kaźmierczak also floated a more visionary Polish-Polish model: strong domestic consortiums, possibly joined by a state-controlled construction company, bidding for very large contracts and gaining an extra political safety net.
The timing matters because Poland is entering a new accumulation of infrastructure investment. The much-announced investment boom did not arrive, and the 2024-2025 period was difficult for Polish builders. However, 2027-2029 should bring intense activity in energy, defence and railway projects. If Ukrainian reconstruction coincides with that boom, severe turbulence on the domestic market is almost certain. Kaźmierczak would rather see politicians focus on improving public investment procedures at home than making vague promises about Ukraine.
Źródło: WNP.PL, Fot. materiały prasowe / PZPB / Shutterstock / Husaruk Vitalii
