The Government permits the Municipality of Budapest to take out a loan for the renewal of metro line 3. Furthermore, the Government is prepared to provide state guarantee to help obtain the loan, Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga said adding that the Municipality on its own cannot cope with the updating of metro line 3.

He emphasised that albeit the metro line is safe, “The fact is we cannot wait any longer with the reconstruction works; the safety of passengers requires prompt action.”

Mihály Varga said that the Government has hitherto added to the Municipality’s budget and over the past years the state has in several steps assumed debts of altogether HUF 217.7bn that has been accumulated by Budapest. This year, the state subsidizes the public transport system of Budapest by HUF 24bn and the Government also provides support through consumer price compensation.

(Ministry for National Economy)