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On Thursday morning, Gergely Karácsony held a press conference in Heroes’ Square, where the mayor spoke about the fact that the Budapest City Council had prepared the purchase of 50 new trolleybuses and 50 new trams in Budapest.
Half of the purchase of this vehicle is the low-floor Solaris-Škoda trolleybuses, which are already familiar to Budapest residents and can travel miles without airlines. According to the mayor, these cars could also replace existing bus routes, thus reducing emissions in the capital.
Two weeks ago, at a meeting of the Metropolitan Public Development Council, the government and the capital had already agreed that HUF 3 billion of funds earmarked for other development projects of the European Union could be reallocated to buy 50 trolleybuses, said the Press conference.
Yesterday, however, it emerged that the government did not support the proposal that government officials had prepared for the FKF meeting. Therefore, it seems that the capital has to give up buying new modern strollers.
Another promised one of many
The mayor described the situation.
However, Christmases do not want to give up the purchase of vehicles, so they have prepared an agreement with the European Development Bank to finance the purchase of cars with a favorable loan and the implementation of the necessary infrastructure improvements. However, the consent of the government is also needed for Budapest to be able to buy these trolleybuses, but according to the mayor, this does not seem to be endorsed either.
We cannot think of anything other than that the government has no interest in Budapest developing
– said Christmas, who, however, refuses to settle for it, so he once again puts on the government table the proposal to resort to the development loan.
According to the mayor,
if the government says no again, it is not a sign of war for the metropolitan self-government, but for the citizens of Budapest.
Rather, accept the government’s offer
After the press conference, we were contacted by telephone with Balázs Fürjes, Secretary of State for Development of Budapest, who responded to the mayor’s statements to the Index. According to Fürjes, the government also agrees with the need to acquire new trolleybuses and trams in Budapest, which is why they have previously supported the purchase of 73 trams and 57 trams.
The Secretary of State recalled that capital can acquire these assets at the favorable price included in the option contract, agreed in 2014 by Mayor István Tarlós and Dávid Vitézy, CEO of BKK.
To our question, Fürjes acknowledged that in the past, at the Budapest Public Development Council meeting, they really supported the proposal made by the capital’s management, that EU funds could be reallocated for P + R car parks that they had not yet been built. However, the secretary of state drew the mayor’s attention to the fact that the agreements reached at the FCMC meeting must also be decided by the Metropolitan Assembly and the government.
According to Fürjes, the government ultimately did not support this proposal because it turned out that although the deadline for the use of EU funds could be extended, it could not be spent for other purposes.
therefore, the capital must build P + R car parks from this source.
At the same time, coverage is provided for the purchase of trolleybuses and trams for the capital, all you have to do is accept the government’s offer to take over a HUF 60 billion investment from the capital, thus alleviating the Budapest budget.
The government, on the other hand, does not support the mayor by financing new capital developments with tax increases and borrowing.
The Secretary of State stressed that with this takeover the government would help the capital, in the face of the proposals based on debt and tax increases, which, according to him, the municipal administration of Gergely Karácsony makes.
Time presses
There is not much time for the two parties to reach an agreement, as the discounted price established in the agreement reached in 2014 will run until the end of November 2020. Therefore, if the parties cannot agree on a week or two on the sources from which fifty trams and trolleybuses will buy, Budapest may miss a large-scale development.
(Cover Image: Attila Trenka / Index)
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