diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 54dda37..e82a817 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -254,21 +254,21 @@ endif()
 
 if(USE_PROJ)
     #https://proj.org/development/cmake.html
     mapnik_find_package(PROJ QUIET)
     # currently the cmake files are not installed, when installing proj via apt-get. So search via pkg-config
     if(NOT PROJ_FOUND)
         message(STATUS "PROJ not found via FindPROJ. Searching via pkg-config...")
         pkg_check_modules(PROJ REQUIRED IMPORTED_TARGET proj)
         string(REGEX MATCH "([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)" _dummy "${PROJ_VERSION}")
         set(PROJ_VERSION_MAJOR "${CMAKE_MATCH_1}")
         set(PROJ_VERSION_MINOR "${CMAKE_MATCH_2}")
         set(PROJ_VERSION_PATCH "${CMAKE_MATCH_3}")
     endif()
     math(EXPR MAPNIK_PROJ_VERSION "${PROJ_VERSION_MAJOR}*10000 + ${PROJ_VERSION_MINOR}*100 + ${PROJ_VERSION_PATCH}" OUTPUT_FORMAT DECIMAL)
     message(STATUS "Using mapnik PROJ version: ${MAPNIK_PROJ_VERSION}")
     list(APPEND MAPNIK_COMPILE_DEFS MAPNIK_USE_PROJ MAPNIK_PROJ_VERSION=${MAPNIK_PROJ_VERSION})
-    list(APPEND MAPNIK_OPTIONAL_LIBS ${PROJ_LIBRARIES})
-    list(APPEND MAPNIK_OPTIONAL_LIBS_INCLUDE ${PROJ_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+    list(APPEND MAPNIK_OPTIONAL_LIBS ${PROJ_LIBRARIES})
+    # list(APPEND MAPNIK_OPTIONAL_LIBS_INCLUDE ${PROJ_INCLUDE_DIRS}) # this adds some non existent directory when building with vcpgk -> commented out
 endif()
 
 if(USE_GRID_RENDERER)