Tarlós: Budapest rejects any responsibility over Metro 3 delay

Budapest, September 30 (MTI) – Budapest’s Municipal Council will no longer assume any responsibility for the delay in the third metro line’s upgrade, Mayor of Budapest István Tarlós said on Friday.

Tarlós told a press conference that he will turn to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán over the “problems in communication” and statements made by government office chief János Lázár on Thursday, of which he said “nothing was true”.

Lázár said on Thursday that the Public Procurements Committee had halted a tender for procuring supplementary buses that would be in operation during the metro line upgrade, because the tender invitation put out by the Budapest council was “distorting competition by excessively limiting potential bidders”. Lázár said a new, corrected public procurement tender must be prepared. He also added that the refurbishment project could not “realistically” start before next summer.