Ms Górska was instrumental in halting construction Courtesy of Goldman Prize

Activist Małgorzata Górska was the recipient of this year’s Goldman Environmental Prize for Europe, informally called the “Green Nobel.” The prize was awarded for her role in the campaign to halt the construction of the section of the Via Baltica highway that was to pass through the Rospuda Valley in northeastern Poland.

Her actions set a “significant legal precedent for the environment that resulted in the protection of … one of Europe’s last true wilderness areas,” reads a statement on the Goldman Prize website.

Original plans for the highway project linking Warsaw with Helsinki were modified by the Polish government to spare the protected site in October 2009, two years after the EU filed a law suit against Poland. Prior to this, Ms Górska had submitted a complaint to the EC who then investigated the case and started legal proceedings.

Construction on the rerouted section has not yet resumed, but the Polish Minister of Infrastructure has declared that it would be completed in 2014 and the whole Via Baltica opened in 2020.

“In my opinion, this is impossible,” said Jan Jakiel, president of the Association for Warsaw Transport Integration (SISKOM), which has advised the group of NGOs involved in the Via Baltica campaign.

No contractors have been selected yet for this section or for others.

The original contract was awarded to developer Budimex Dromex by the Białystok branch of Poland’s General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA Białystok). The two are now in a legal dispute to settle the financial costs of halting the road construction, explained Mr Jakiel.

“Budimex’s estimation of the contract was originally zł.450 million, which we believe was underestimated. Our estimations are €250 (zł.966) million for the Augustów bypass and €2.15 (zł.8.3) billion for the whole Via Baltica,” he added.