In a post on Facebook, Karacsony said he was seeking the release of "every document, fact and piece of data that explain how an open tender would have turned into the shadiest government property deal of the century had Budapest not intervened".

Addressing criticisms that other property developers had previously prepared renderings for the redevelopment of the Rakosrendezo area, Karacsony said they had been hired to do so by the MNV in 2023 for an open international tender.

"So two years ago, the National Asset Manager wasn’t preparing for a secret deal with an Arab billionaire, but an open, international tender," Karacsony said, adding that this plan was later "thrown out, along with the public funds spent on it".

Karacsony: Government wants to back out of Rakosrendezo commitments

Gergely Karacsony, the mayor of Budapest, has accused the government of wanting to back out from the transport development commitments it has made regarding the Rakosrendezo brownfield area.

"It will soon become clear if the people of Budapest are as important to the government as the Arab investor," the mayor said in a post on social media on Saturday.

Karacsony said the government has committed to a 320 billion forint (EUR 789.5m) transport investment in a two-thirds vote law, without which the green residential area investment planned for the area could not even start.

According to the purchase agreement, the government and the city council must agree on the details and exact schedule of the developments within six months, he added.

These developments cost more than ten times as much as cleaning up the area, but as the government was focusing on the latter, this was in preparation for the government to "back out of its commitments", the mayor said, adding they "will not let this happen, because the Arab investor cannot be more important than the people of Budapest".

Vitezy: Funds from MOHU could finance Rakosrendezo purchase

Funds from MOHU, a unit of Hungarian oil and gas company MOL that has a nationwide municipal waste management concession, are allowing Budapest Kozmuvek Nonprofit (BKM), a company owned by the Budapest municipality, to purchase the Rakosrendezo brownfield area, David Vitezy, the leader of the Podmaniczky Movement group in the Budapest assembly, said in an interview with news portal Index.

Vitezy said in the interview that BKM has funds from the revenue of the waste management concession as "there was a one-time income from the transfer of a waste recycling plant, which was 33 billion forints, which the city can use for this" purchase, he said.

Vitezy noted that the 33 billion forints (EUR 81.4m) would be enough to pay the first two instalments for the area’s purchase price, a combined 30.5 billion forints, but the third instalment, some 20.9 billion forints, would have to be provided by the city by 2039.

The cleaning and development of the area should be carried out with the involvement of private investors, but in such a way that the land remains in the ownership of the capital as much as possible, meaning that the investors only have ownership of new buildings, he added.

In response to the interview, MOHU issued a statement on Saturday saying that Vitezy was inaccurate and that city council will "definitely not buy the Rakosrendezo area from the waste management revenues".

The company noted that MOHU had paid 39 billion forints to BKM for a 50 percent stake in MOHU Budapest and its operation, however out of this amount 17 billion forints can only be spent by BKM on the development of the jointly owned MOHU Budapest.

MOHU further noted that at the end of 2024, as part of this contract, MOHU Budapest also purchased a waste sorting and logistics facility from the capital, partly financed with EU funds, for an additional 13 billion forints. However, the purchase price can be used by the municipality only in connection with EU support.

The company said it was not MOHU's business to determine what resources Budapest has, the company's task was to "modernise and develop the domestic waste management system".

Mini-Dubai: Budapest to Exercise Its Pre-Emption Rights for Rakosrendezo, Says Mayor

The BKM unified public utility company of Budapest has pre-emption rights for the capital's Rakosrendezo area and the capital will exercise this right, Mayor Gergely Karacsony said.

He told a press conference that the government was going to classify a contract that would have enabled it to sell the area for a fraction of the market price.

Karacsony added that the National Asset Manager has made the contract public and it showed that BKM holds pre-emption rights for the entire area as a result of district heating rights. Karacsony said that it was a precondition for the coming into effect of the contract that the metropolitan company should surrender its pre-emption rights.

"We have no intention at all to surrender this right," he said.

Karacsony said he would submit a proposal at next Wednesday's meeting of the Municipal Assembly to authorise BKM to exercise its pre-emption right and pay the first instalment of 12.7 billion forints (EUR 31m). He added that the second instalment would have to be paid once the state carries out its required regulatory tasks, and the third by 2039.

Karacsony said the metropolitan council would be the best owner of the largest rust belt area in Budapest. He added that it was "worth paying" the price of 50.9 billion forints included in the contract considering that the value of the area was at least ten times or rather twenty times more.

He said that once the area is in Budapest's ownership, an international property utilisation project would take place to create what has been dubbed as a "park city" in previous strategic plans.

"We are ready to pay the first instalment in order to ensure that Budapest's gold reserve is utilised according to the interest of Budapest and not according to the interest of foreign investors," he said.

Karacsony: Budapest insists on preemption rights over Rakosrendezo brownfield area

The Budapest municipality will not waive its pre-emption rights over the brownfield area at Rakosrendezo, the site of major reconstructions planned, Mayor Gergely Karacsony told a press conference on Wednesday, adding that statements by the government and ruling parties were contradicting each other.

The Hungarian National Asset Management Company (MNV) said earlier in the day that real estate around the Rakosrendezo train station in Budapest may only be sold to a buyer designated by the the United Arab Emirates, with the prior consent of the government, according to an intergovernmental economic cooperation agreement promulgated in 2024.

Karacsony said the agreement published by MNV clearly showed that City Hall had pre-emption rights over the area. The municipality will exercise that right to "prevent a harmful investment the government is trying to force onto Budapest residents," Karacsony said, adding that the municipality will build "Park City", an earlier plan, in the area.

Budapest has pre-emption right over Rakosrendezo development area

Budapest has pre-emption rights over the entire Rakosrendezo area, Gergely Karacsony, the city's mayor, said on Facebook.

Regarding a browfield area in Budapest's 14th district, which is subject to conflicting development plans by the government and the municipality, Karacsony said the legal situation was "clear and unequivocal".

The seller, the Hungarian state, informed the buyers in the sale and purchase agreement that two Budapest-owned companies have pre-emption rights over the entire area, he said.

The purchase contract stipulates that the investor must pay the first installment of the purchase price within ten days of the Hungarian state presenting declarations waiving the right of pre-emption or the deadline for exercising pre-emption rights "has passed uneventfully", he said. "That deadline won't pass uneventfully," Karacsony added.

The mayor said the current owner, the Hungarian state, "has allowed this especially valuable area to decay and be polluted for decades."

He said it was time that development started according to "principles espoused by practically the entire profession of city development", which he said had been strengthened by the latest decision of the Budapest assembly on the matter.

"The Park City concept", he said, promoted "affordable housing and a lot of green [areas] for many, rather than luxury for a few."

Should the state violate the pre-emption rights of Budapest Kozmuvek (BKM), the Budapest utility company will immediately sue both the Hungarian seller and the UAE buyer, "the Arab billionaire", Karacsony said.

BKM will pay for the area from the price of Budapesti Hulladekhasznosito, a waste management plant, he said. "We are prepared for attempts from the Hungarian government to circumvent our pre-emption rights," and will use all legal remedies to prevent that, he said.

The Budapest Assembly will debate the proposal on the matter on Wednesday. He said councillors "will have to decide whether they are serving Budapest's future or [giving in to] the government's machinations".

Karacsony: Budapest insists on preemption rights over Rakosrendezo brownfield area

The Budapest municipality will not waive its pre-emption rights over the brownfield area at Rakosrendezo, the site of major reconstructions planned, Mayor Gergely Karacsony told a press conference on Wednesday, adding that statements by the government and ruling parties were contradicting each other.

The Hungarian National Asset Management Company (MNV) said earlier in the day that real estate around the Rakosrendezo train station in Budapest may only be sold to a buyer designated by the the United Arab Emirates, with the prior consent of the government, according to an intergovernmental economic cooperation agreement promulgated in 2024.

Karacsony said the agreement published by MNV clearly showed that City Hall had pre-emption rights over the area. The municipality will exercise that right to "prevent a harmful investment the government is trying to force onto Budapest residents," Karacsony said, adding that the municipality will build "Park City", an earlier plan, in the area.

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

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