Hard Coal Social Mitigation Project

closed

A major pillar of the Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) is enhancing private sector-led growth, and employment creation, through enterprise restructuring. Support for coal sector reform was included as a priority within that pillar, which includes the following assessment: "The Bank will assist Poland's enterprise restructuring plans primarily through continuation of the assistance to the coal reform program, begun in 1999. The Program comprises: the economic objective - to improve profitability, and financial liquidity of the sector, to achieve capability in meeting the regular liability payments, including payments of environmental fees; and, the social objective - to mitigate the social impacts of program implementation, and of sector restructuring. The first component provides support for CY04 costs for the severance packages to be paid to underground workers, under the 2003-2006 Program, enabling pre-retirement benefits of 75 percent of wages for a period of up to 3 years, until eligible for a miners pension. Similarly, the second component provides support for CY04 costs for severance packages to surface workers, providing alternative employment at a salary of 75 percent of present wages. Finally, the third component supports CY04 costs for ongoing commitments to severance payments from previous Miners' Social Packages under the 1998-2002 Program, provided for up to five years.