Opposition, civil groups call on council members to delay vote on levee plans in North Budapest

Budapest, April 5 (MTI) – Opposition parties and civil groups on Wednesday called on Budapest local council representatives to vote against current plans to build a mobile flood levee on the Római embankment in northern Budapest, which environmentalists say would harm the local ecology.

The Socialists said there has been no sensible dialogue so far about flood protection at the Római embankment and demanded a fair comparison between the alternative solutions.

The green opposition LMP said a mobile levee would be a riskier solution than a protective dike along the Nánási and Királyok roads. Party representative Antal Csárdi said Mayor István Tarlós had cheated everyone by not ordering a detailed comparative assessment of the two possible solutions, it said, insisting that building the dike further away from the Danube would be safer and the other solution would only serve to protect property developers’ interests.

The Democratic Coalition (DK) party said that even paying the 7 billion forints extra costs of the Nánasi-Királyok roads dike would be worth it because the natural environment of the Danube embankment could then be preserved.

The Párbeszed party again called for a Budapest referendum on the how to protect the Római embankment from floods. Co-leader Gergely Karácsony said a referendum would enable real professional dialogue and wide social dialogue about the future of the last natural Danube embankment in Budapest.

The civil organisations FÁK a Romain and Greenpeace called on the representatives not to vote on the current plans until the decision is properly readied and the demands of the public are assessed. Some 10,719 people have signed a petition so far demanding that the current character of the embankment is preserved and an environmentally conscious solution is prepared for flood protection, city development expert Iván Tosics told a press conference at the city hall.