Hungarian government wants to spend EUR 12.5bn bn on road, rail developments by 2022

The government will spend 4,000 billion forints (EUR 12.5bn) on developing public roads and railways by 2022 in order to strengthen Hungary’s position in logistics, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Friday.

Some 900 kilometres of high-speed roads will be built from 2,500 billion forints,

55 percent of which will be paid from the central budget and 45 percent from European Union funds, he told an event organised by the Hungarian Export-Import Bank and the Hungarian Export Credit Insurance Company (Exim).

A total of 1,500 billion forints will be spent on rail developments which will involve modernising 900 kms of tracks, he added.

The developments will extend the length of Hungary’s electrified rail network to 3,300 kms, the minister said.

Szijjártó noted ongoing and completed developments, including the electrification of a railway link between Budapest and Slovenia’s Koper. A new bridge on the River Danube at Komárom is already under construction and it will be suitable for freight transport from the first quarter of 2022, he said. Five new border crossings will be built in cooperation with the Slovak government and the EU funding won for this development will also enable building two bridges on the River Ipoly.