About a thousand local governments can get state real estate free of charge

The state offers a total of 5.4 million square meters of real estate assets to small settlements in the Hungarian village program; There are 2,055 real estates, and 935 local governments can access the assets free of charge , the minister without portfolio responsible for the management of national assets said at a press conference in Budapest on Tuesday.

Andrea Mager explained: the affected properties have approximately 2.4 million square meters of interior space . The letters about the free property transfer are planned to be sent to the municipalities this week or in the first weeks of June.

The minister called the measure on the part of the state intended to help, the purpose of which is to enable local governments to gain value. Municipalities can accept or reject the offer , he added.

Alpár Gyopáros, the government commissioner responsible for the development of modern settlements, announced that the declarations from the mayors of the affected settlements are expected until July 15 - confirmed by a resolution of the representative body - on whether they will take over the offered properties. This will be followed by the legislative task of the government and parliament, as a result of which the asset transfer procedures can start from January 1, 2022, he said.

Andrea Mager recalled: in recent years, the restructuring of the state asset management system has been formulated several times and has also begun . The two most important elements of this are to ensure that the assets necessary for the implementation of strategic goals related to the performance of public duties of the state will continue to be secured in the future, and on the other hand, those assets that are proven not to contribute to the achievement of these goals can help to achieve other goals that are useful from the point of view of society, he said. the minister.

In the light of this dual government objective, a point of connection between the transformation of state property management and the Hungarian village program, which increases the population retention power of small Hungarian settlements, became evident, he said. He explained: the new program can " provide an injection of wealth of local significance " that contributes to the achievement of the long-term goals of the Hungarian village program.

The minister noted: even under the current legal conditions, it is possible to hand over assets to local governments for free, but this is a lengthy process that leaves several questions unclear.

This can be helped with a targeted program, which, according to the government's intentions, is better aligned with the social policy and settlement development goals of the Hungarian village program, he added. He indicated: they reviewed the state assets available under the direct management of the Hungarian National Asset Management and examined which assets support the goals of the Hungarian village program.

Alpár Gyopáros recalled: Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced the Hungarian village program in 2018 , and its implementation began in 2019. He recalled: in the first year, a serious social dialogue was started with the people living in small settlements, village leaders, church officials, and civil organizations, and based on this, specific sub-programs were launched, for example the village chocolate; according to the latest data, 21,000 families have applied for support worth more than HUF 110 billion.

Repairs to the side road network also began within the program, between 2019 and 2021, 3,000 kilometers of road sections were renewed or will be renewed; if the Parliament accepts the government's proposal for next year's budget, this can be extended by an additional 1,500 kilometers.

He also spoke about the fact that the small settlements are well aware of the program's application system, by using which they can carry out important developments locally .

Among the sub-programmes, he also highlighted the support of market players and small businesses operating in villages, which aims to save and open local small shops, as well as the support system for micro-enterprises, which is implemented from a HUF 25 billion budget.

He emphasized: it is a constantly expanding program, the resources of which are also expanding . Its effectiveness is shown by the fact that, while previously the population of small settlements decreased significantly more than that of large cities, this trend has stopped, and the population of 2,500 small settlements has increased to 1,000 . All small settlements can be saved from extinction, Hungarian villages have a future , the government commissioner stressed.

Speaking about the transfer of real estate, he said: until now there have been requests from local governments, but they operated in a unique, time-consuming procedure; the government chose the simplest solution, because it assessed the real estate stock and offered it to the municipalities at the same time.

Speaking about the offered properties, he mentioned as an example: if a small settlement "outgrows" its kindergarten, it can even use the new property to expand it, but if it is marketable, it can even be sold.

MTI