Three years were not enough for the capital led by Gergely Karácsony to carry out the normal renovation of Blaha Lujza tér. The investment was HUF 400 million more expensive than the previous plan developed by Mayor István Tarlós, but it was realized with reduced technical content - in other words, they did not do everything that was in the plan. The compilation of Origo reveals the standard of an average investment in the left-wing Budapest - we examined this.
After a delay of a year and a half, the capital led by Gergely Karácsony needed another year and a half to renovate Blaha Lujza tér. After several postponements, the reconstruction of the area handed over on Saturday began in June 2021, even though an agreement was reached on the renovation under the direction of Mayor István Tarlós. But in February 2020, Budapest's new, left-wing leadership requested a review of the plans, citing a lack of funds. The Karácsonys thus lost more than a year during the technical implementation of the project, but this time was not enough for them to conduct the promised social consultation.
In addition to the closures and traffic jams, the renovation was also criticized for its "wooden" construction with reduced technical content.
The result of the "wooden" Christmas design is that the planned elevator was not built either, so it will be difficult for people with strollers and the disabled to use the underpass. Due to the reduced technical content, the public toilets were also left out of the renovation. Previously, it was also planned to move the terminus of the trams to Blaha Lujza tér from the narrow Népszínház utca, but this was also postponed.
Gergely Karácsony was not interested in how inconvenient it is for the people of Budapest to travel at the junction. Due to the series of ill-considered closures, daily traffic jams formed in the capital, for which Gergely Karácsony proposed the solution for motorists to "get out of the car and walk".
It is worth remembering that last summer the traffic in the capital city was drowned in complete chaos, because the reconstruction of Pest's lower quay between the Margit Bridge and the Parliament began during the downtown metro renewal, which was already underway, and in South Pest several busy areas affected by the modernization of tram line 50 construction site. The coup d'état was given by the renovation of the Chain Bridge on June 16, which, after a delay of a year and a half, the mayor timed "masterfully" for the time of the European football championship, which was already full of traffic and closures. This was followed by the closure of the Nyugati railway station on June 19, and the traffic chaos culminated with the beginning of the renovation of Blaha Lujza tér. The effects of different ideas and ill-conceived measures reinforced each other: after major renovations were delayed for a year and a half, everything was closed at the same time, from the lower wharf in Pest to the Lánchído to the area around Blaha.
Source and full article: Origo
Featured image: Facebook/previous shot
