GRODNO, 24 March (BelTA) – Plans have been made to open the Lesnaya-Rudawka border checkpoint in the Augustow Canal area for pedestrian and cycling tourists as from 1 May 2017. The plans were revealed after a session of the subcommittee for checkpoints and infrastructure of the Belarus-Poland inter-departmental commission for cross-border cooperation, BelTA has learned.
The subcommittee plans to open Lesnaya-Rudawka for pedestrian and cycling tourists on 1 May. Until the inter-departmental procedure is over, the checkpoint will function in a pilot mode.
“Grodno Oblast and the Polish side are currently working out joint tourist routes from Bialystok, Augustow Canal to Grodno. We need to open this checkpoint to launch the joint routes. The status of Lesnaya-Rudawka will be changed from the river border checkpoint to the cyclist- pedestrian- and river checkpoint,” Deputy Chairman of the Grodno Oblast Executive committee Yury Shuleiko noted. He underlined that the Belarusian side had already prepared the necessary infrastructure and tourist routes.
During the session of the subcommittee the parties also discussed the launch of the border checkpoint Sofiyevo-Lipchany on the Belarusian-Polish border. “It will enable us to incorporate our pedestrian and cycling tourist routes into the international network, in particular, in the adjacent cycling route from Greece to Scandinavia,” Yury Shuleiko remarked.
Belarus and Poland are currently in talks over creating the infrastructure on both sides at the checkpoint. “At the next session the subcommittee will take a decision on the specific date of the project implementation,” the subcommittee chairman Oleg Lyashuk said. He underlined that the Polish side is also interested in the project.
The new border checkpoint is reported to reduce the distance from Grodno to Augustow to 57 kilometers.
