Budapest mayor: Financing available for Metro 3 air conditioning, technical solution missing

Financing for air conditioning on the revamped Metro 3 line is available, Mayor of Budapest Gergely Karácsony said on Thursday. But a technical solution is missing, he said after a meeting of the Metropolitan Public Development Council (FKT).

Karácsony complained of “fake news” regarding the issue, saying the charge that his administration had quashed plans to fit air conditioning due to a lack of funding was untrue.

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He blamed his predecessor for the “bad decision” to renovate Russian trains while excluding an Estonian contractor that had solved the air-conditioning problem from the public procurement tender.

“Funding and the political will is there,” he said. “It’s the technical solution that is missing.”

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Earlier today, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, told a press conference that Karacsony had failed to honour his campaign promise to provide the city’s metro line 3 with air conditioning. He noted that the city assembly had rejected ruling Fidesz’s related proposal.

Source: MTI