Budapest council to spend over one billion forints on 7,000 LED lights for public lighting

The Budapest assembly of on Wednesday approved a decision to spend over one billion forints (EUR 3.3) on purchasing 7,000 LED lights for public lighting.

Under the decision, passed with 24 votes in favour and with 5 abstentions, a public procurement bid will be announced to select a supplier.

The opposition Jobbik party, however, said that approved amount was one-and-a-half times the market price.

Marcell Tokody, a Budapest representative of Jobbik, told a news conference ahead of a meeting of the city assembly on Wednesday that Jobbik had sought several offers for public lighting, and the best-quality and most expensive lamps on the market were less then two-thirds of the price of those to be procured by the city.

“This wouldn’t be the first time that a ‘directed public procurement’ would amount to a costly but poor upgrade of public lighting,” he said, adding that it would make sense for the assembly first to obtain price offers before publishing the tender.

Source: MTI