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Figure 7.11 Hungary’s Motorway Investment Plan 2000-2010
Source: Lukács (2001)
7.7 Conclusions and Consequences
On a positive note, even if the true reality of transport corridor assessment in the
“New Europe” is likely to continue to be dominated by political opportunism and geostrategic
thinking, significant strides in developing better environmental, social and
financial assessment methodologies for large-scale infrastructure investments have been
made. Unfortunately, SEAs and EIAs are not always carefully and extensively enough
applied, especially when it comes to EU-funded transport projects in CEE. Such is also
the conclusion of the European Environmental Agency which notes in its latest TERM
report (European Environment Agency (EEA) 2001:48) that “the practice of strategic
environmental assessment is growing, but links with actual decision-making are weak.”