According to the environmentalist NGO, the resort will be built on a much smaller area than indicated in the current plans, so that “during the redesign, the protection of nature will be a leading priority, and the process will be transparent for the NGO involved, and opinions can be filed.”

Greenpeace said the government made the same promises to a delegation of Unesco, World Heritage and Ramsar Convention officials, who visited Hungary last week and inspected the construction site.

“Now they see that the entire Lake Fertő project needs to be fundamentally reconsidered, both aesthetically and from a sustainability point of view,” a source told Népszava.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán envisaged a large, state-run tourist complex in the rather neglected Fertőrákos Bay in 2015, according to the newspaper.

Several environmental protection organisations, the EU and Unesco protested against the giga-project, whose budget in the meantime ballooned to over Ft 45 billion, but the government did not apply the brakes until 2022, when economic difficulties halted work on the project.

The Lőrinc Mészáros company that was awarded the contract for the construction work has already been paid Ft 9.3 billion for chopping trees, filling up reedbeds, and destroying the iconic stilt houses of the World Heritage site.

This was to be followed by the construction of hotels, apartments and sports centres, but this phase was delayed by the economic crisis.

MTI Photo: Csaba Jászai