Further delays on Budapest's Metro 4 spawn crisis team

The Budapest Mayor's Office convened a crisis team because of further delays on the construction of the Fővám tér station of the new Metró 4 line, writes Népszabadság.

The BKV (Budapest Public Transportation Authority) wants to speed up the construction, delayed by months, while the contractor Hídépítő Zrt. does not want to continue on a strenuous schedule, and indicated that they might quit as a response. The project is at a critical stage as even planning is delayed by months, Chief Engineer László Becker said.

The contract made with construction company Hídépítő does not include any penalties in case the contractor does not accept the acceleration of the project, forced by city authorities. The only thing the company is responsible for is that the future station could accept the drill when it arrives, but that is still more than three stations away, and will not reach Fővám tér until summer 2008.

This is not the first conflict between Budapest authorities and Hídépítő Zrt. Over the previous summer, Budapest Mayor Gábor Demszky criticized the company because the delays in the construction at Fővám tér threatened to delay the reopening of the lower Pest embankment. This problem was solved as the contractor sped up the works, and embankment works were completed in time. If the parties cannot come to an agreement about the current problem, a successor to Hídépítő must be found through a new public procurement procedure.

The costs of the constructions are overrunning, too, writes privatbankar.hu, as Ft 511 bn (€2 bn) will be needed for the construction of Sections I and II of Metró 4, which is 25 bn more than what the plans accepted in March estimated. The first section, between Kelenföldi pályaudvar and Keleti pályaudvar, will cost Ft 348 bn of which Ft 289 bn can be covered by EU funds. Section II, between Baross tér and Bosnyák tér, expected to be ready by summer 2013, will probably cost Ft 163 bn. If the City Assembly accepts the new costs, Budapest will then apply for EU funds which could partly cover the increased costs.

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