The cabinet favours developing the Kútvölgyi hospital and establishing a sports health centre there, too. He added that St János hospital in Buda will not be made into a “super hospital”. The government has adopted plans to refurbish Budapest’s Museum of Applied Arts with a budget of 25 billion forints (EUR 80.2m).

The project will include construction of a new wing to the Art Nouveau building based on original 120-year-old designs, he said. The government has also decided to keep the headquarters of the National Szechényi Library in the Royal Palace in Buda Castle, while a new facility will be built outside the city to deposit its stocks, Lázár said.

He also said that “if the National Museum has development ideas” the government is ready to provide room in state-owned buildings in its vicinity. On the subject of recent auctions of state-owned land, Lázár said that the government is in the process of drafting a bill on what 250-300 billion forints (EUR 0.8-1bn) of revenues should be spent on. The bill could be tabled in parliament in September, he added.

Parliament will decide if the funds should be used to build industrial parks, reduce the national debt or finance public health projects such as building new hospitals, he said.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.