[ad_1]
The Metropolitan Public Development Council, the government conciliation forum and the local government of the capital met on Thursday afternoon. The results of the meeting were presented at a joint press conference by Balázs Fürjes, Secretary of State for Budapest Development and the Budapest Agglomeration, and Deputy Mayor Kiss Ambrus.
At the beginning of the press conference, Fürjes announced:
- The government commits to provide 6 billion HUF to the capital just for the renovation of the Chain Bridge, in response to the request of the city council, of which the local government will not have to spend on the Buda Castle tunnel or the tram underpass. This money will be received by the municipality if the closure of the bridge due to the renovation does not last more than 18 months.
- Together with the capital, I would like to transform the Pest pier so that cars can continue to use it twice in one lane, but in the remaining space it can be “taken over by pedestrians and cyclists”, “there will be benches, wells, green spaces”.
- Also at the request of Christmas, the government came in so that, in addition to the districts, the local government of the capital could also propose which areas of Budapest should be included in the government’s rust zone housing program. (As part of this, new residential buildings can be constructed in rehabilitated rust areas with a lower VAT.)
- The government will take care of the investment, both planning and implementation, connecting the GÉdöllő HÉV and the two meters of the local government of the capital.
- The expansion of the Buda tram on the quay section of the Technical University and the construction of the new Transport Museum as part of the rehabilitation of the oxidation zone received the green light.
However, several requests from the capital municipality were rejected by the government. According to the Fürjes report, the government:
- does not approve the request for a loan of 70,000 million HUF from the local government of the capital, which it would take from the European Investment Bank for the implementation of the developments in Budapest,
- does not support the introduction of a restart tax proposed by Christmas, which would impose more business taxes on the largest companies in the capital,
- does not reduce the part of the solidarity contribution distributed among the poorest local governments to Budapest,
- and it will not provide the capital with an additional 55 billion HUF from this year’s budget to complete public developments such as the Biodóm or Gellért Hill cable car project, or the interlocking tram extension.
Instead of the latter, as a “compromise”, Fürjesek recommends that the local government hand over the implementation of these developments to the government, so that it is not a burden on the local government, but on the government budget.
On behalf of the government, Fürjes raised two other issues at the FCMC meeting:
- called for double-lane vehicle traffic to be restored throughout the Nagykorut during the winter,
- and that the government and the capital are renegotiating which “disputed buildings” could still be built in the City Park as part of the discontinued Liget Project.
The epidemic, the crisis and the government measures have opened a hole of 150,000 million HUF in the pocket of the capital: Deputy Mayor Kiss Ambrus responded to the announcements of Fürjes. Without letting the municipality impose a tax on multis. He said he was also concerned that the government was prohibiting Budapest from obtaining a development loan from the European Investment Bank by obtaining a loan from the same financial institution.
Regarding the government’s proposals, he said that the capital could not yet comment on them, as they were confronted at the FCMC meeting. According to him, the renovation of the Chain Bridge could reach a stage in 2022 in which the 6 billion HUF promised by the government could be withdrawn at the expense of that year’s budget.
[ad_2]
