The Minister of Science, Dariusz Wieczorek, has increased by PLN 43 million the subvention for the implementation of a comprehensive reconstruction of the infrastructure entitled ‘ARCTOWSKI – PolarPOL – Polish Multidisciplinary Laboratory for Polar Research in the Antarctic’. The amount of the subvention will be more than PLN 173 million.

To date, more than PLN 70 million has already been spent on the investment. For this sum, foundation blocks and the assembly of the steel structure for the main building, two storage halls with the internal infrastructure, the installation of the water and sewage system together with the sewage treatment plant and pumping station, as well as the modernisation of the fuel system and the replacement of the power cabling, have been carried out. All that remains to complete the investment process is the prefabrication of the main building structure and its foundation on the finished steel structure, as well as the finishing works of the main building.

The completion of the comprehensive reconstruction of the station’s infrastructure will allow Poland to remain in the elite group of twenty countries operating year-round scientific research stations in the Antarctic and to maintain its status as a member of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Organisation, and with it equivalent voting rights in Antarctic management decisions. The project is scheduled for completion in 2027.