Poland and Ukraine, hosts of the 2012 European championship, said yesterday their countries' creaky infrastructure would be whipped into shape for the biggest sporting event in their histories.

UEFA's choice of the Slav countries on Wednesday raised questions over whether highways, hotels and stadiums neglected during 40 years of communism and in 15 difficult years since would be ready to host the influx of hundreds of thousands of overseas fans for the 16-team tournament in 2012.

The announcement that Poland and Ukraine beat out favourite Italy and a joint bid from Croatia and Hungary activated plans to spend 2 billion euros ($2.72 billion) already earmarked in each country for sporting infrastructure such as stadiums.

"We will use all funds at our disposal - both EU and private funds," Ukraine Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich told a news conference in Warsaw, after a visit with his Polish counterpart Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

"We know people who value sport more than money."

Earlier, Kaczynski told reporters he was considering chairing a joint Ukraine-Poland committee to organise the championships.

In Poland, plans are already under way to expand the country's 570-km (356 mile) network of highways six-fold by 2013. The country is counting on some 110 billion euros in funds from the European Union for roads and other infrastructure.

"In the coming years Poland will look like one big building site," said Polish Minister of Regional Development Grazyna Gesicka.

Poland and Ukraine have each earmarked four venues for use in the tournament. The four Polish cities are Warsaw, Gdansk, Poznan and Wroclaw. Kiev, Donetsk, Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk will stage games in Ukraine.

Difficult task

News that the bid had won triggered celebrations. Warsaw's WIG-20 large cap stock index jumped to a record high and jubilant headlines - "WE WON!!!" said one - splashed across front pages of newspapers in both countries.

Ukrainian officials acknowledged they faced huge tasks to modernise the crumbling - and often absent - infrastructure inherited from Soviet times.

"The prospects of speeding up the development of Ukraine's economy were clear from the outset in the event of victory in the contest to hold the championship," wrote the daily Den. "But equally clear was the fact that a colossal path lies ahead to turn these ideas into reality. And not everyone may be up to it."

Plans are under way to upgrade or build from scratch stadiums in host cities. In Ukraine, the most glaring difficulties are with hotels and in road and rail transport.

Assessments of the projects that need to be undertaken to cope with vary widely. Press reports quote hotelier experts as suggesting that Kiev alone will need 15 new hotels at a cost of $500 million. A further dozen may require upgrading.

With 80 per cent of the country's rolling stock in improper condition, Transport Minister Mykola Rudkovsky has put at $5 billion the cost of upgrading the rail network to reduce travelling time between cities.

Besides presenting a challenge, Euro 2012 will be a boom to economies in both Poland and Ukraine, which suffer from high unemployment, leaders said.

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