You can’t build a new bridge in Budapest in ten years, the mayor told Index.

Municipalities do not have to maintain universities, but there are situations in which the municipality can perform tasks for the benefit of the local community that are not required by law. With this, Mayor Gergely Karácsony explained to the Index that the capital can help students occupying the building of the University of Performing Arts. In the interview, he made it clear that in addition to providing infrastructure, they also provide other assistance, and the infrastructure could be a building to be renovated at the Merlin Theater, which is part of the City Hall park to be built.

Opening the park was one of the first Christmas promises at the time of his election, now he told the portal that for now they are in the planning phase.

The Index also asked the mayor about the Grand Boulevard bike lane. According to Christmas, it would be ideal for cars to circulate in one lane and bicycles in the other, but “as the elected leader of a diverse community, the views of this diverse community must be respected,” which means that it is still a social debate by now.

As for the hybrid solution developed on the southern stretch of Grand Boulevard – bicycle traffic will be diverted to the sidewalk in some sections – according to Christmas, it is a “well thought out compromise” for which 50,000 people have been consulted.

Due to the coronavirus, the capital lost about 150 billion, for which there are no resources to manage: of this, the additional defense cost is 5 billion, the ticket revenue of BKK minus 20-25 billion, and the economic recession means a loss of around 100 billion guilders in business taxes – said the mayor, adding that the business tax provides about 70 percent of the city’s revenue. Added to this is the government austerity that is hitting the capital, amounting to another 30-35 billion guilders.

All this is interesting because Viktor Orbán recently spoke about the fact that the economic damage affecting Budapest can be covered with the 100 billion free fonts in the capital’s coffers; later, Christmas responded to this with less than 150 billion.

He also explained because of the government withdrawals that a new bridge would not be built in Budapest for ten years, all the more so because it would be more important to renovate the Petőfi and Árpád bridges, which are also in poor condition, after the Chain Bridge. He sees that the Chain Bridge could be completed in 2023 and, a year later, the Biodom.

(Index)


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