Hungary to complete EUR 8bn road upgrades by 2022 – UPDATE

Budapest, September 15 (MTI) – The government has approved 2.5 trillion forints (EUR 8bn) worth of public road upgrades in Hungary to be completed by 2022, government office chief János Lázár said on Thursday.

Under the cabinet’s Wednesday decision, 81 major roads will be upgraded and some 1,000 kilometres of dual carriageways will be built, with financing from national and European Union sources, Lázár said.

In addition a 1.1 trillion forint railway upgrade project was also given the go ahead, which will include renovating the Nyugati (Western) and Keleti (Eastern) railway stations in Budapest, and creating a circular railway around Lake Balaton, Lázár added.

In other transport-related news, the long distance coach company Volán will purchase 180 new buses for 22-24 billion forints, in line with a proposal made by the economic cabinet.

UPDATE

Lázár said the government has approved a development plan for Pest county. The government has allocated 80 billion forints for developments in that area. Municipal governments, micro companies, SMEs, churches and NGOs will receive 5 billion forints in 2016, 25 billion forints next year and later a further 50 billion forints to carry out the developments, Lázár said.

He said the government would provide 44 billion forints for the upgrade of the University of Physical Education. The first phase of the upgrade will cover a revamp of the university’s existing facilities and a new building will be added to it in 2018, Lázár said.