Great business development ahead for SE Hungary, says Minister Lázár

The government regards the development of south-east Hungary as a priority, the minister for construction and transport said in the town of Makó on Monday.

János Lázár told a press conference at the town’s industrial park that the government aims to develop an industrial area similar to those is the cities of Miskolc, Debrecen and Nyíregyháza near Szeged, in southern Hungary, “so that Szeged can finally take its place among strongly developing and prosperous cities”.

He said that the government is working to implement infrastructure developments connected to Chinese car manufacturer BYD’s investment near Szeged. It is plowing hundreds of billions into linking the car plant with the highway, as well as setting up a rail link between Budapest and Szeged, and developing the drinking and wastewater system to satisfy the plant’s demands, he said. The government will also ensure that gas and electricity capacity is up to mark, he said.

The investment will benefit the entire region, he said. Makó is linked to Szeged through a highway, and the government is mulling reconstructing a rail link and building a suburban rail link with Szeged, he added.

The industrial park in Makó currently services 50 companies but will need to be expanded to satisfy demand, in addition to the 3 billion forint water system upgrade already underway, Lázár said.

He added that a subsidiary of Chinese COFCO Packaging is investing 27.5 billion to build a packaging plant in the park.

China is the largest investor in Hungary, Lázár said, adding that the Budapest-Belgrade railway line was a “pilot project” in the EU, as the first instance of Chinese signalling and safety systems would operate in the European railway system.

Lázár said that Makó, “an excellent ally of the Hungarian government,” had seen substantial developments in past years in tourism and industry, as well as an upgrade of the local thermal baths.