They were in agreement that the Hungarian capital had almost every sports facility that were required for hosting a summer Olympic Games, the office said in a statement.

Karácsony said that “organising a sporting event of this scale poses a great challenge even for Paris, a city with a lot more developed infrastructure”.

“Should a plan seriously ever come up for Budapest to host an Olympic Games that would require a large-scale development of roads, bridges, public areas and the public transport system to make up for what has been undone over the past decade,” the statement quoted the mayor as saying in a post on Facebook.

He promoted a green development of the city and broad public consensus to be the base of a future Olympic concept.

Karácsony: Integrating Urban Growth with Budapest’s Olympic Visionű

Budapest's concept for hosting the Olympics in the future should come with "historic" levels of urban development instead of just sports-related investment projects for their own sake, Gergely Karacsony, the city's mayor, told a press conference on Friday.

Karacsony's remarks come after the Hungarian Olympic Committee (MOB) and the Hungarian Paralympic Committee (MPB) on Thursday presented a request to the city assembly regarding the participation of his administration and party officials in an exploratory process regarding a possible future Budapest Olympics.

The mayor said Budapest could only host the Olympics if the event had majority support behind it and if it involved "historic" urban development.

Budapest will have to examine what hosting a Summer Olympics would mean, Karacsony said, pointing out that the MOB and the MPB's request did not mean that an immediate decision had to be made, but that the city should debate what kind of an Olympics it could host.

He said the request could not be denied, and the city would have to explore this opportunity without making any commitment to host the event.

Karacsony said that at next week's session of the city assembly he will recommend that he and elected city representatives take part in the planning process together.

He said that if they could find common ground with the MOB and the MPB then they would also have to hold talks with the government because its guarantee was a necessary part of the process. He added that once a concept was finalised, it would be up to Budapest residents to make a decision on bidding for the Olympics.

Karacsony said Budapest already had the sports infrastructure for hosting the Olympics, adding that the city's plan should involve "historic levels" of developments in transport, green infrastructure and housing rather than more sports-related investment projects. He said it needed to be made clear that Budapest was facing a housing crisis, and a future Olympic village should also be suitable for increasing the number of student hostel spaces and rental homes.

Meanwhile, Karacsony said there was "no point" in talking about a Budapest Olympics if the city and the government could not put their relationship on a new footing.

In response to a question, the mayor said he still believed a local referendum on the Olympics was necessary, but a national referendum may also be a possibility. He also said a realistic timeframe for a possible Budapest Olympics would be between 2036 and 2044.

Source: 
MTI - The Hungarian News Agency, founded in 1881.

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