Airport at Lake Balaton to be renovated for EUR 16.1 million

Budapest, December 1 (MTI) – The Heviz-Sarmellek airport at Lake Balaton will be renovated at a cost of 5 billion forints (EUR 16.1m), and will be connected to the M7 motorway by a new main road which will be built for an additional 4 billion forints, the daily Magyar Idok reported on Tuesday.

The project is part of a plan of renewing the Balaton region to be carried out in the 2014-2020 European Union funding period, Heviz mayor Gabor Papp told the daily. The motorway connection could bring new investments to nearby towns of Nagykanizsa and Zalaegerszeg.

Passenger numbers at Heviz-Sarmellek rose by almost a fifth to 33,000 last year from 2013.

The airport is 49 percent owned by SGH Aviation Hungary, a company of Hungarian businessman Gabor Szeles whose holdings include the Videoton group, the television Echo TV and the daily Magyar Hirlap among others. Szeles’s company bought its stake in the airport for 700 million forints from the local government of Heviz in October 2014. The Heviz local government currently holds 49 percent and the local government of Zalavar holds the remaining 2 percent.

Photo: repulnijo.hu

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters