LMP: Budapest-Belgrade rail upgrade serves no Hungarian interests

Budapest, February 19 (MTI) – The Budapest-Belgrade railway development solely serves Chinese interests, the opposition LMP party said, adding that the government is doing everything it can to weaken the project’s profitability by supporting a rival Slovenian rail upgrade.

The cabinet is still pursuing the “failed” eastern-opening policy and supporting two rival projects simultaneously, which is “economic madness”, Erzsébet Schmuck, the party’s deputy parliamentary group leader, and Lóránt László Keresztes, the party’s transport spokesman, told a press conference on Friday.

Schmuck said the Budapest-Belgrade rail line will be upgraded at cost of 472 billion forints (EUR 1.5bn), with the Chinese providing a 20-year loan covering 85 percent of the total. China is motivated by the prospect of transporting Chinese goods from the Greek docks of Piraeus to western Europe. The development serves no Hungarian economic interest, she said, adding that China does not even guarantee that it would secure enough business to ensure the track is fully used by freight trains. A European Union loan would have been more favourable, she insisted.

Keresztes said it is even stranger that the government, while signing a loan contract with China, also supports railway developments on the line to Koper, Slovenia, which is a rival route to Piraeus. Hungary has agreed to offer a 370 million euro credit line for the Slovenian project.

Meanwhile the opposition party also criticised the government for Hungary’s bid for the 2024 Olympics. Antal Csárdi, an LMP councillor in the Budapest Assembly, said on Friday that the bid is based on “ill-thought-out and underdeveloped planning”.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters