Yet another edition of the Fair is already behind us.  
131 exhibitors from Austria, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Great Britain and Poland have presented their products and services in the domain of road and municipal infrastructure as well as road traffic safety.

This year’s edition of the event was organized under the honorary auspices of Cezary Grabarczyk, the Minister of Infrastructure, and Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, the Mayor of the capital city of Warsaw. 

The Fair was visited by many representatives of the key institutions of the industry, responsible for the development of municipal and road infrastructure in our country. During the opening ceremony, the Minister of Infrastructure, Cezary Grabarczyk stressed that “the ambitious plans with regard to the improvement of the Polish road and municipal infrastructure depend precisely on us.” Moreover, the following people took part in the opening ceremony of the Fair: the Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Infrastructure – Radosław Stępień, vice-mayor of Warsaw – Jacek Wojciechowicz, CEO of the General Directorate for National Roads and Highways (Pol.: Generalna Dyrekcja Dróg Krajowych i Autostrad) – Lech Witecki as well as the chairman of the Seym Infrastructure Committee – Stanisław Żmijan.

During the Fair, the below-mentioned companies presented their offerings: companies specialising in execution, design and consulting, but also ones providing construction equipment as well as raw materials and other materials for the construction industry. Moreover, visitors had the opportunity to acquaint themselves with solutions for: road traffic engineering, security systems, traffic management, road signposting, infrastructure technology and fixtures and software for the road industry. The Fair’s offer also provided proposals concerning municipal and communal infrastructure.

The several thousand visitors included, among others: road supervisors of all GDDKiA (the General Directorate for National Roads and Highways) levels, municipal and poviat roads, government administration and self-governments, as well as Polish and foreign investors operating in the industry, representatives of companies specialising in execution, design and consulting as well as representatives of research institutes and universities.

At the exhibition stalls, one had the opportunity to meet the representatives of, inter alia: the Ministry of Infrastructure, the General Directorate for National Roads and Highways (Pol.: Generalna Dyrekcja Dróg Krajowych i Autostrad), the Roads and Bridges Research Institute (Pol.: Instytut Badawczy Dróg i Mostów), the Polish Nationwide Commercial Chamber of the Road Branch (Pol.: Ogólnopolska Izba Gospodarczej Drogownictwa), the National Road Safety Council (Pol.: Krajowa Rada Bezpieczeństwa Ruchu Drogowego), the Municipal Roads Authority (Pol.: Zarząd Dróg Miejskich), the Centre for the EU Transport Projects (Pol.: Centrum Unijnych Projektów Transportowych), the Self-Government of the Mazovia County Voivodeship, the ITS Polska Association, as well as the Metropolitan Police Headquarters.

Events organized for the professionals proved to be very popular; they touched upon topics concerning, among others, the sources of financing infrastructural investments, innovative solutions aimed at environment protection, ways to improve road traffic conditions and safety as well as intelligent transportation systems.

In this year’s agenda, a lot of attention was paid to road safety. Apart from a series of presentations covering issues of the safety of unprotected road traffic users, one could also visit the Traffic Town. Presentations and shows presented within the Traffic Town’s area were aimed at driving attention to the problem of the safety of road traffic users, especially children, cyclists and people with disabilities. Specialists from the National Road Safety Council (Pol.: Krajowa Rada Bezpieczeństwa Ruchu Drogowego) and the Voivodeship Traffic Centre (Pol.: Wojewódzki Ośrodek Ruchu) lectured on how to work towards the improvement of road traffic conditions and how to solve problems connected with them. 

Over100 people participated in the ceremony of signing the “European Road Safety Charter”. The Charter was signed by an impressive number of 35 new entities representing large and small companies, national institutions, local associations and non-governmental organizations. The new Signatories committed themselves to undertake specific actions aimed at improving the level of safety and reducing the number of fatal accidents on Polish roads. The meeting was opened by Mrs. Marie-Therese Duffy-Haeusler, performing duties of the Director of European Commission Representation in Poland, who welcomed Mr. Radosław Stępień, the Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Mrs. Isabella Kardacz, the Chairman of Road Safety Unit of the European Commission.

For a second time, the Infrastructure Fair was accompanied by the International Conference “Environmentally friendly roads - ENVIROAD 2009”, focusing on the harmonious co-existence of road infrastructure and the natural environment being one of the priorities for road construction. Radosław Stępień, the Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Agriculture, who opened the conference – underlined that “an opposition of roads and the environment does not exist. The Ministry of Infrastructure wants to build roads in a way which reduces environmental collisions to a minimum and compensates for their consequences.”

The listeners who participated in the “Locating and constructing wind farms – on land and off-shore” seminar had an opportunity to learn, inter alia, how to solve problems connected with the lack of area development plan, how to obtain permits with regards to using the environment for business purposes as well as water-legal permits and how to prepare the entire investment process. Moreover, specialists from the Leśnodorski, Ślusarek & Partners Law Firm discussed legal issues of energy law connected with joining a distribution network and the funding of such investments.

The Fair featured also specialist industry meetings focusing on subject-matters concerning the acquisition of funds for infrastructural investments and the possibilities of supporting the development of such investments. As part of the panel on the possibility of using public-private partnerships, organized by the Investment Support company, representatives of the Ministry of Regional Development talked about their experiences with regards to the implementation of EU funds during the execution of infrastructure projects. Similar issues were covered during a meeting organized by Magazyn Autostrady (Motorways Magazine), “Difficulties in obtaining EU funding for road infrastructure development”, which in itself was an exchange of experiences and information between investors and representatives of institutions responsible for the sate of infrastructure in Poland. Moreover, lawyers from the Miller & Canfield Law Firm explained the regulations of construction law and the ways of executing PPP projects in line with the new legal requirements, for example: construction of public car parks in the licence system for construction works or the location of construction investments taking into account planning issues.

The Fair’s agenda also included a meeting touching on the topic of the development and implementation of intelligent transport systems, which summarised the first stage of the Ministry of Infrastructure project “Strategy for ITS development in Poland”. The meeting was organized by the Intelligent Transport Systems ITS Polska Association. 

Some points of this year’s Fair programme were dedicated to electronic payments on the roads. The Minister of Infrastructure, Cezary Grabarczyk, experts from the Department for Roads and Highways in the Ministry of Infrastructure and representatives of the General Directorate for National Roads and Highways (Pol.: Generalna Dyrekcja Dróg Krajowych i Autostrad) talked about legal and economic issues, as well as technological and organizational principles of the new system during a lecture entitled “Electronic toll service – new roads – new opportunities”.  The programme of the Fair also included exhibitors’ presentations concerning this subject-matter. Kapsch TrafficCom conducted a lecture “Systems of electronic vignettes and intelligent transport systems for modern funding and safe management of highways”, Stalexport Autostrady S.A. – “using integrated intelligent transport systems (ITS) in the management of highways network, based on the example of Autostrade per l`Italia SpA”, while Raytheon Security Solutions – “Electronic payments accessible to everyone – convenience, savings, the quickest return on investment”.

Overall, the programme created an occasion for discussions, exchange of points of view and experiences and the quality of its content constitute a source of information about the state of Polish infrastructure and the projects being implemented in this domain.

Competitions
As every year, the Fair was accompanied by prestigious competitions. The Minister of Infrastructure’s Award for the best offer presented at the 7th Infrastructure Trade fair was awarded in the following categories:

• Infrastructural Investments – award for WARBUD S.A. for innovative solutions in terms of engineering projects execution, honourable mention to Budimex Dromex S.A. for a comprehensive realisation of infrastructural facilities;

• Road traffic safety - award for  APM Konior Piwowarczyk Konior Sp.z o.o. for innovative solutions in terms of integrated systems of active road information;

• Machines and construction equipment – award for KH- KIPPER Sp. z o.o. for the multi-functionality of unloading providing optimal protection, honourable mention to Dynapac Poland Sp. z o.o. for optimal functionality of caterpillar pipe layer, ensuring maximum comfort for the operator;

• Materials and raw materials for road construction – award for Ergon Poland Sp. z o.o. for the high quality and universality of application of bridge beams in engineering facilities, honourable mentions to Dolnośląskie Surowce Skalne S.A. for a dynamic aggregate production development for road construction and Wavin Metalplast – Buk Sp. z o.o. for innovative solutions for road facilities’ drainage;

• Infrastructure friendly for road users with disabilities – award for EKOTECH Sp. j. J. Rząsa and T. Stanowski for functional alert boards ensuring safety for people with a visual impairment;

• Equipment for roads and public use facilities – award for EKONOVA Sp. z o.o. for aesthetic, durable and environmentally friendly acoustic screens.

During the ceremonial gala at the Jan III Sobieski hotel, the laureates were congratulated by: the Minister of Infrastructure - Cezary Grabarczyk and the Secretary of the National Road Safety Council (Pol.: Krajowa Rada Bezpieczeństwa Ruchu Drogowego) - Andrzej Grzegorczyk.

The laureate of the competition for the most professional and original exhibition stall was BILFINGER BERGER Polska, and honourable mentions went to: Czmuda S.A., Wirtgen Polska Sp. z o.o. and Polbud - Pomorze Sp. z o.o.

MOREOVER, the Jury awarded a Special prize to the National Road Safety Council (Pol.: Krajowa Rada Bezpieczeństwa Ruchu Drogowego) for the Road Traffic Town.