Hungary has no resources to develop the Ferihegy International Airport as it must be, Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány told national radio in his usual Tuesday interview. State Privatisation Holding (ÁPV) President Tamás Mészáros also said in an interview with news portal index.hu that Hungary needs no bigger guarantee that Budapest Airport will be duly upgraded than the fact that investors are willing to pay around HUF 400 billion for it.
Gyurcsány said that if they would not give operating rights of Ferihegy to an investor, which undertakes to carry out developments in the value of over HUF 100 billion, the state would not be able to spend this sum on the airport.
The state says “it would be smashing to invest into Ferihegy Airport, but I have no money. Moreover, I sometimes even double over the burdens I put on myself," Gyurcsány said.
“We could choose to keep Ferihegy just for ourselves, disallowing others to bring in capital for developments, but where would then by the air hub of this region - Zagreb, Bratislava, Prague?," he asked.
“We're not competing for the sake of competition, but because we have no other choice," ha added.
ÁPV President Tamás Mészáros said the backlog of Ferihegy to its regional peers in Prague, Vienna and sooner or later Bratislava was growing. He criticised the impossibly bad traffic routes to the airport, the lack of parking spaces, scarce catering and shopping facilities at the airport as well as the fact that queuing is inevitable at both security gates and customs.
“Changing all this will require a lot of money and these companies (the bidders) have already proved they are capable of doing it," Mészáros said.
He set London's Heathrow as an example, which sprawls on about the same area as Ferihegy but can still handle traffic numerous times as big as the Hungarian airport.
He expressed doubts whether Hungary would have the expertise, experience and systems to serve 3.3.5 times the current traffic expected in the years to come.
“The winner (of the tender) will pay the profit several years forward and a part of the company's revenues and its taxes will contribute to the growth of Hungary's economy," Mészáros said.
It is the greatest guarantee if a company is willing to pay HUF 400 billion for Budapest Airport, as this means that it definitely has to generate a return and reinvest profits and develop the airport, Mészáros said.
Source: Portfolio online financial journal
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14.09.2005