Hungary – János Lázár, Minister of Construction and Transport of the Hungarian government, has confirmed the existence of a giga-investment project in the XIVth district of Budapest, behind Nyugati railway station, in a rust belt known as Rákosrendező.
Lázár’spress conference was held in the wake of rumours that the main investor might be UAE businessman Mohamed Alabbar,owner of the BurjKhalifa Tower in Dubai, and that a Dubai-style skyscraper would be built on the site. The new hub could look like a city full of very tall buildings, office blocks and luxury apartments.
The minister did not reveal much about the identity of the major investor, but did acknowledge that it is a Dubai-based operation. Lázár, however, does not approve of the project being nicknamed “mini-Dubai” by the press, and made it clear that no decision has been made on whether there will be a tower block in the area.
As reported by Index:
“The minister’s answer reveals that they are thinking of a millennium development, a new city centre. As for the investor, he said that (…) no investor in the Central European region would be able to do this, as the Dubai investor is expected to put up to €4 billion, or even €8 billion, which will be revealed later, but for now the government is expecting €5 billion. In addition, he is not asking for state aid because, as the minister said, ‘the investor is choosing Hungary not for the money but for the opportunity’.(…) The Hungarian state will contribute €1 billion to the project.
Turning to the skyscrapers, János Lázár said that he generally disapproves of them, and still considers the Mol Tower in Újbuda a ‘landscape wound’ and a ‘primeval sin’. He recalled that in Pest, under the current building law, only ninety-metre high buildings can be erected.”
Often seen as a possible political heir to Orbán, Lázár is obviously trying to extract political capital from his participation in this mega-project. The task of dealing with the 1.3 million square metre site was assigned to him directly by Viktor Orbán.