WARSAW: Poland’s transport minister is intending, as a matter of urgency, to will inspect cracks in a new, ill-fated motorway being built for the Euro 2012 football championship — but he has said he cannot promise it will be ready on time for the co-hosted finals writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

The admission is the latest snag after problems over the construction of the new national stadium which is scheduled to host the Opening Match on June 8 between Poland and Greece.

Minister Slawomir Nowak said construction firms are obliged to repair the damage on a stretch of the A2 between Warsaw and Lodz, in central Poland. But he was refused to promise repairs would have been undertaken in time.

The motorway was built by COVEC, a Chinese consortium, but the contract was scrapped last year because of delays and Polish companies took over.

European federation UEFA has remained firm in a conviction that the authorities in Poland and Ukraine would be prepared in time for the finals – though, with Ukraine at least, it was a close-run thing.