WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A Polish official said Friday that a Chinese company building part of a key motorway for Euro 2012 intends to pull out of the deal.
The announcement comes as the latest setback to Poland’s preparations to co-host the 2012 European Championship with Ukraine.
Transport experts said the Chinese firm’s withdrawal would mean a stretch of the A2 motorway in central Poland would not be ready in time for the event when it starts in June 2012.
Andrzej Maciejewski, an official with Poland’s General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways, said that the China Overseas Engineering Group Company, or COVEC, wants to pull out of the contract.
COVEC is building a 20-kilometer (12-mile) stretch of the motorway that will link Warsaw and Berlin and is considered key to easing travel for fans during the competition for an estimated 534.5 million zlotys ($197 million).
The COVEC bid was half of the projected cost of the road leading to accusations that the company tried to undercut competitors in an attempt to gain a foothold in the European market.
Work on the motorway has come to a halt recently and subcontractors have said that COVEC has not payed them millions of zlotys.
Maciejewski said that Polish officials would demand at least 741 million zlotys ($270 million) in damages if COVEC pulls out.
Talks with the company are scheduled for next week, he said.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday that failure to meet the contract would result in payment of damages.
"If anybody wants to build roads and stadiums in Poland, he can either do it with perfection, or pay damages," Tusk said.
Adrian Furgalski, a transport infrastructure expert, said that finishing the road project without COVEC will cost about 600 million zlotys ($220 million) more, and may still not be achieved in time for the championship.
There are also growing signs of significant problems with the 55,000-seat National Stadium in Warsaw, being built by a consortium led by Austria’s Alpine Bau.
It was scheduled to be finished by the end of June, but that timetable looks increasingly unlikely after the recent discovery of construction flaws in a staircase that would have posed a danger to spectators.
On Thursday, Tusk threatened builders of both projects with "tough measures."
