Asbestos cement found in City Park not a health risk, says Városliget Zrt

The asbestos cement found at a construction site in the City Park does not constitute a direct risk to health, the company responsible for the site, Városliget Zrt., said on Thursday.

During demolition of the Petőfi Csarnok concert venue, all materials containing asbestos were removed by experts, the company’s statement said. During construction a new building, the new national gallery, all outdated building materials will be removed from the site, the statement said.

The head of the lab responsible for testing the material containing asbestos, Zoltán Czap of Kör Ker Kft., said that “the sample is not an inhalable, directly life-threatening variant of asbestos”.

Fears that the asbestos may be a danger to health were raised by the Ligetvedők NGO, which has protested against the government-backed project to redevelop the park. As we wrote on May, the police have put an end to an ongoing protest against a major construction project in Budapest’s City Park.

Also we wrote last year, the asbestos found during recent demolition works in Budapest City Park “does not pose hazard to people living nearby or to visitors of the park”, the company in charge of the contested Liget Project, a scheme under which a museum complex is planned to be built in the park.

Source: MTI