The airport, with an adjoining ‘airport city’, is a key component of plans for a larger megaproject, a multi-modal transportation hub, called the Solidarity Transport Hub or Central Communication/Transport Port (Polish: Centralny Port Komunikacyjny, CPK), integrating the new mega-airport with existing and new road and rail infrastructure.[1] Affected local communities raised concerns over the future of their land ownership. Initially, there was a lot of contradictory information about the megaproject. Thus, on February 23, 2018, 23 founding members of the 'BEFORE THE AIRPORT - CPK' Association were established. This organization aims to protect the interests of residents in the areas covered by the investment. In April 2018, councillors in Baranów voted to hold a referendum on the airport.

On May 10, 2018, the legislation pertaining to the Solidarity Transport Hub was approved.[23] New legislation to enable implementation of the Central Transport Hub results in de facto freezing of real estate, establishing a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) called Central Transport Hub LLC (Polish: Centralny Port Komunikacyjny Sp. z o.o.) with pre-emptive powers over land development decisions and superseding local spatial development plans. In effect, provision has been made for land required for the project to be expropriated automatically, with provisions made for compensation.[4] Baranów residents said they had not been officially informed about their future including the terms upon which the government would buy their land.[5] A large protest against the airport project took place on 23rd May 2018. Residents, accompanied by a few tractors, gathered in front of Baranów fire station where a meeting was held with Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and a representative of the consulting firm Arup.

In June 2018 the media stated that the enactment of the new legislation regarding the Solidarity Transport Hub, had caused an ‘outcry’ in the community of Baranów and anticipated ‘intense’ local resistance. The referendum on the issue, consultative rather than binding, was scheduled for 17th June.[7] The result of the referendum was a resounding vote against the project: 88.2 per cent of the votes were against the Central Transport Hub and a mere 17.2 per cent voted in favour of it. Residents also rejected the government’s proposed settlement terms for the acquisition of their land - 93 % of votes [8].

Opposition to the project due to concerns over serious socio-economic disruption is accompanied by widespread doubts over its economic viability. The airport along with the transportation hub would be the biggest infrastructure project in the history of Poland. The European Union (EU) is not expected to contribute funds and the European Commission monitors airport projects to ensure compliance with state aid rules. The Polish government has claimed Chinese, South Korean and Singaporean interest in investing in the project but as as of October 2018 there was no report of commitment from a foreign investor.[9] With the first phase of the project projected to cost about USD8 billion, more than 10 per cent of Poland’s annual budget for 2018, skeptics were of the opinion that the money allocated for the new airport would be better spent on highways, railways, and upgrading the existing Warsaw Chopin Airport. The member of Parliament for Civic Platform, Poland’s main opposition party, said: “I see more megalomaniacal self-aggrandisement than any realistic analysis in this project”.[3]

In February and March 2019, the councils of the communes of Baranów, Teresin and Wiskitki adopted resolutions on the establishment of the Social Council for CPK (15 members, 5 from each commune). The inaugural session was held in June. This body is to advise the investor on matters related to the acquisition of real estate, presenting its recommendations on how to buy them. The Council was also established to conduct a dialogue between the state-owned company organizing the investment and local communities; first at the preparation stage, and then also during the investment implementation. The Council will help, among others in planning and conducting an information campaign for residents [11].

In December 2020, the Voluntary Acquisition Program (PDN) was launched. As part of it, Central Transport Hub LLC purchases real estate from the area west of Warsaw (7,400 ha), lying between the cities of Żyrardów, Grodzisk Mazowiecki and Sochaczew. The addressees of PDN are all owners, co-owners and perpetual users of real estate from the above-mentioned area who are interested in selling or exchanging their real estate. The aim of the program is to accelerate the investment process before the formal determination of the location of the CPK by way of an administrative decision, i.e. before expropriation. In June 2022, the first pool of replacement land was launched with a total area of ​​190 ha and located up to 100 km from the planned investment. This offer is addressed to people who, inter alia, would like to continue farming. It includes a comprehensive organization of the move, a free notarial process and the possibility of using the given property after the sale transaction and until the commencement of construction works in a given area within the CPK. By mid-2022, almost 400 people had signed up to participate in the PDN.[12] Thus, agreements concluded with the awareness of the impending expropriation are not concluded freely. If the intended investment on the property had not been established, the owner would not be able to recover it.

Some residents complained to the District Prosecutor's Office in Żyrardów that they were tormented and intimidated by inspections and the open interest of the services. False information about them is disseminated and consciously published in the media. On April 8, 2021, the prosecution refused to initiate an investigation [13].

After several months of weaker visibility of the mobilization against the CPK, the protests of residents intensified. It was related to the acceleration of design works. On December 16, 2021, the government plenipotentiary presented in Warsaw the area of preferential investment location. It showed that over a thousand people live in the area of the planned CPK (4100 ha), there are about 520 buildings, 20 villages (for complete or partial demolition; only churches and cemeteries are to be preserved), and about 3,800 plots of land.[14] On the same day - at the fire station in Baranów - a meeting was held between the residents and the investor's representatives, who were pelted with eggs. Agrounia supported the farmers. The opponents of the CPK knew about the events in the capital city, because the day before the representative of the Social Council for CPK published the plan on the Internet. In reaction to this event, the government side stopped considering the Council as a partner in dialogue.[15]

On January 8, 2022, he held a series of masses in local churches. One of the protesters stated that "unity must be fostered and gathered around the Church, despite the fact that he left us to be eaten by the wolves." [16]

In June 2022, on the basis of multi-criteria analysis, the Central Transport Hub LLC prepared an investor variant (along with two alternatives) describing the exact location (the final area is 2,800 ha in 9 communes located in 4 counties) and the location of the airport infrastructure, etc. It is worth noting that 75.6 percent of the selected area is arable land. Another 14.8 % are meadows and pastures. The remaining 10% are inhabited areas [17]. The above-mentioned document clarifies the plan from December 2021, which will be attached - along with the Environmental Impact Assessment report - to the application for a decision on environmental conditions (it will probably be submitted in the third quarter of 2022). On June 10, as part of a nationwide protest, a rally was held at the playground funded by the investor in Baranów and, above all, roads in several human settlements affected by the investment were blocked [18]. Moreover, on June 22, several hundred people protested in front of the investor's headquarters in Warsaw [19].

On July 22, 2022, the Sejm adopted the Act on improving the investment process of the Central Transport Port.[24] According to the opponents of the CPK, the new law gives the Government Plenipotentiary for CPK, completely unnecessary for investment purposes. It strengthens the position of the government and government administration at the expense of citizens and local self-government, limiting their rights. The role of Central Transport Hub LLC is to be strengthened. It goes, among others o the possibility of expropriation for the purposes of building railway lines for the State Treasury along with establishing the right of perpetual usufruct. It also introduces the possibility of early implementation of preparatory works before issuing a building permit.[20]

The inhabitants of the project area point to the illusory nature of the public consultations carried out, as well as the failure to provide full, exhaustive information on the planned expropriation process for the construction of the investment. On July 19, 2022, the Social Association - Stare Budy filed a complaint to the Provincial Administrative Court against the investor's inactivity regarding the disclosure of public information. [26] On August 4, 2022 the parliament will hold a public hearing of the government's draft amendment to the Real Estate Management Act.[25] It introduces new rules of expropriation for public investment. It is planned to abolish the so-called principle of benefits. In the event that taking into account the purpose for which the property is expropriated will increase its value, the determination of the amount of compensation must take into account the purpose of expropriation which increases the value of the property. This means that in such a situation the expropriated person should receive compensation, the basis of which is not the value of the property in accordance with the current use (e.g. agricultural land), but the value of the property determined for an alternative use resulting from the purpose of this property for public purpose (e.g. road). If the act is passed, the value of compensation - especially for farmers - will be lower than before [21].

A mega-airport is planned, one of the largest in the world with two runways, initially serving 45 million passengers per year, rising to 100 million.[1] Large volumes of cargo traffic between Europe and Asia are also planned.[5] Envisaged as a key component of a larger mega-project, a multimodal transportation hub called Solidarity Transport Hub, the airport includes a rail station and be integrated with existing and new road and rail infrastructure. The detailed area of the planned airport together with the road and rail junction lies in the area of 9 communes: Baranów, Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Jaktorów, Nowa Sucha, Teresin, Błonie, Radziejowice, Wiskitki and Żyrardów.[17] A high-speed rail line connecting the two cities of Warsaw and Łódź is planned and the rail line between Berlin and Moscow, providing a high-speed service via Warsaw that commenced operations in December 2016, is immediately north of the proposed airport site. The A2 motorway running between Poland’s western and eastern borders is immediately south of the proposed airport site.[1] Plans for an estimated 248 kilometres of new and expanded road infrastructure include extension of the A2 motorway along with numerous ring roads.[4] A 3,000 hectare land area has been earmarked for the new airport and an adjoining ‘airport city’ with hotels and showrooms is planned, covering 1,200 hectares. Construction of business parks, conference centres, an exhibition centre and office complexes was allowed under the government resolution outlining plans for the new airport along with legal and infrastructural changes in Baranów.[1] The airport city is expected to accommodate 100,000 workers. Agglomeration of the new airport city, Warsaw and Łódź is anticipated to create a global metropolis.[4] The total project area for the Central Transport Hub is 66.2 square kilometres.[2]

The 7th November 2017 resolution announcing construction of the airport approved the financing structure.[1] The estimated cost of the airport is USD7,172,402,000.[2] An article in Airport Development News, the newsletter published by Airports Council International, stated that two state-owned financial institutions, Polish Development Fund (Polski Fundusz Rozwoju – PFR) and Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK), Poland’s national development bank, would be ‘heavily involved’ in financing the airport. If the main investor is indeed the government Polish citizens will bear the cost and risk of the airport project.[1] The implementing legislation specifies the special purpose vehicle (SPV), 100 per cent owned by the State Treasury, as the investor in Central Transport Hub.[4] According to legal analyst firm Lexology the total cost of the rail infrastructure elements of the multimodal hub is estimated at USD2.1-2.3 billion whilst the total cost of roads and highways is estimated to range between USD482 million and USD1.86 billion. Lexology stated that the road and rail elements of the project might be eligible for EU funding.

Some industry experts are critical of the new airport, doubtful that a new global hub could compete with established European hub airports such as Schiphol and Frankfurt and predicting that it would struggle to meet its traffic projections. There are concerns that a major new hub airport would compete with regional airports, possibly leading to closure of some of these facilities. Expenditure on a new airport precipitating closure of established regional airports would be a profligate waste of public funds. Between 2007 and 2015 at least USD1.58 billion was spent on building and expanding 14 Polish regional airports, with 40 per cent of this funding coming from the European Union (EU).

Poland’s state-owned carrier, LOT Polish Airlines, is a proponent of the new airport. Indeed, supporting growth of LOT, in order for it to become one of Central Europe’s main carriers, is part of the rationale for the airport project.[1] The new airport is key to LOT’s plans to triple passenger traffic with a focus on increasing the number of long-haul flights to Asia and the Americas.[3] In 2018 the Polish government established a new aviation group, Polish Aviation Group (PGL) based on LOT. The assets of Poland’s largest aviation service providers: LOT Aircraft Maintenance Services, ground service provider LS Airport Services and aircraft repair firm LS Technics were transferred to LOT. Officials said the consolidation aimed to capitalise on the growing air travel market and the new hub airport. In the interim between announcement of the establishment of Polish Aviation Group in January 2018 and commencement of operations in November 2018 the capital endowment increased from USD350 million to USD670 million.[10]