Budapest Mayor: Orbán must tell UAE partner that the shady mini-Dubai project is off the table – UPDATE
Budapest needs affordable suburban homes built “in a transparent way” in the city’s Rákosrendező development area, Gergely Karácsony, the city’s mayor, said in response to a statement by a government official on Monday. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is going to the Emirates soon, the mayor said in a message about “mini-Dubai”.
Botond Sára, the head of the government office, said in a video posted on social media that the Budapest assembly “is facing perhaps the biggest decisions of its life”. “The councillors are set to decide whether to prevent the construction of apartments and jobs or support a development project which will yield money that could be used for developing the city’s public transport system developments and keeping the city clean,” said Sára.
Karácsony said in response that “it is becoming clearer and clearer that this is not a large-scale development project but a ‘back-door deal’ of the government,” adding that the project which he dubbed “mini Dubai” was aimed at building luxury apartments for foreigners rather than affordable housing for locals. The mayor said the metropolitan council wanted to ensure affordable housing with plenty of green spaces in the Rákosrendező area, “with the involvement of investors … in a transparent way, not in back-door dealings with Arab billionaires, but in competition, serving our sovereignty and Budapest residents.”
Orbán’s upcoming visit to the United Arab Emirates
The Rákosrendező brownfield area is in north-eastern Budapest’s 14th district, which is subject to conflicting development plans by the government and the municipality,
Concerning Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s upcoming visit to the United Arab Emirates, Karácsony said
“if the prime minister represents Hungary … he will be obliged to tell his business partners that the shady mini-Dubai project is off the table.”
He said the “scandalous” purchase agreement of the project site and the prime minister’s visit were just a few days apart, adding “but this is mere coincidence, what else could it be?”
Karácsony pledged to “preserve Budapest’s sovereignty and its gold reserves” and he suggested that “the prime minister could inform his business partners and watch the city council’s Wednesday meeting online”. Karácsony has said that Budapest enjoys pre-emption rights over the entire Rákosrendező area, insisting that the legal situation was “clear and unequivocal”.
Mini-Dubai issue, key news in chronological order:
- Goodbye mini-Dubai, hello Grand Budapest: The €12 billion urban transformation!
- Game-Changing clause could halt Hungarian Government’s skyscraper plans for Grand Budapest investment! – details HERE
- Another unexpected turn in the Grand Budapest project: here’s the National Asset Management’s reaction – read the article HERE
- Mayor Karácsony: Budapest can baulk Grand Budapest project on Rákosrendező
UPDATE
Later on Monday, Karácsony said the state had sent the capital’s Budapesti Közművek company a call to exercise its right of pre-emption for the entire Rákosrendező area. In a Facebook post, he said the “smart-aleck” government had been “talking nonsense in recent days” regarding the pre-emption rights are whether they existed or not.
“We will exercise our right of pre-emption, and Rákosrendező will become Park City instead of a mini-Dubai,” he added.