A special fund to help finance the construction of disabled- and senior-friendly infrastructure will be established under the new rules, which are part of the government’s multibillion Accessibility Plus programme.
The country’s Investment and Development Minister Jerzy Kwieciński was quoted as saying on Monday that the new regulations were designed to benefit people with disabilities, senior citizens and parents with children.
"Disabled people make up 12 percent of our society, and elderly people constitute roughly 16 percent," Kwieciński said, as cited by public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency.
He added: "There are also people who have problems with access to public space, such as women with children, and those who experience temporary mobility difficulties because they have broken a leg, for example."
Under the new law signed by President Andrzej Duda, public institutions, offices, schools, universities and healthcare facilities will have to ensure accessibility in terms of architecture as well as digital technology and information for people with special needs, including wheelchair-confined citizens and those who are deaf or blind.
Poland’s government last summer approved a multibillion programme to redesign public infrastructure and make it more accessible to senior citizens and people with mobility problems.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at the time that some PLN 23 billion (EUR 5.4 bn, USD 6.2 bn) would be spent by the end of 2025 under the programme, dubbed Accessibility Plus, to improve the living conditions of elderly Poles and citizens with various kinds of mobility impairments.
(gs/pk)
Source: IAR, president.pl