The athletics stadium in Budapest to be built for 545 million euros

The government will provide more than 545 million euros (HUF 200 billion) for the construction of the national athletics stadium.

In addition to the stadium, the investment includes the construction of a pedestrian and bicycle bridge, as well as other related facilities and infrastructure, and the landscaping of the area, writes vg.

Budapest will host the 2023 World Athletics Championships. The investment is part of the Southern City Gate Development Program, which includes the complete rehabilitation of the area in the northern part of Csepel Island, which currently functions as a rust zone.

According to the plans, the stadium will be taken down after the sporting event and opened to the general public.

The investment includes:

• Construction of a 40,000-seat sports facility;
• Construction of a 168.8-metre-long steel bridge;
• Construction of a public building with a gross floor area of 75,300 square metres;
• Growing grass on 61,970 square metres;
• Planting a minimum of 359 deciduous trees;
• Construction of 380 metres of railway platform;
• Construction of a pedestrian bridge;
• Construction of a 1,000-metre-long flood protection line.

In the decision, the government calls on the minister without portfolio responsible for the management of national assets to ensure the availability of a portion of the investment costs for 2022-2024, with the involvement of the Minister of Finance.

However, the completion of the stadium is still uncertain.

The Curia has once again validated the referendum initiative on whether to build an athletics stadium.

Last October, the Curia had once decided to hold a referendum on the issue, but the initator did not start collecting signatures at the time. The question was originally submitted by Dániel Kassai, a former LMP politician, in 2019.

According to the National Electoral Commission (Nemzeti Választási Bizottság- NVB), the issue did not meet the requirement of voter clarity. Namely, the designation of the settlement included a topographical number, which is not clear for a significant part of the voters. Although the problem was solved, Dániel Kassai did not take over the signature collection sheets. However, in June, he resubmitted the initiative to the NVB. The NVB refused the authentication again, which was re-authenticated by the Curia. Thus, it is possible that the future of the athletics stadium will be decided by the voters. In a recent similar initiative, the Government backed down from the organisation of the Olympics.

Source: vg.hu