PLANNING FOR A SUSTAINABLE EUROPE? - TU Berlin

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There are thirteen [road sector] projects proposed to receive ISPA support within the
coming medium term period. These projects from [sic] the 'long' list in the first etap
[phase]. Most of these projects are situated in the Helsinki Corridor and belong to the
TINA network. 4 projects from the 'long' list being able to start in 2000 have been put
to the so-called 'short' list (4.1-4.4). After a site visit experts delegated by European
Committee DG XVI [sic] suggested 2 of these 4 projects to form part of ISPA 2000.
[These are:]
1. Construction of Motorway M7 between Budapest and Zamárdi […]
2. Construction of Motorway M3 between Füzesabony and Polgár
So at least at this point, the top two ISPA road priorities were still fully congruent
with the national development objectives in the Széchenyi Plan. EU delegates had also
clearly identified these particular projects as top ISPA priorities. Of the additional eleven
projects listed in the document, most of them were also congruent with the Széchenyi
Plan priorities. In particular, of the listed ISPA priorities 3 through 7, only one project,
the expressway M43, differed from the Széchenyi Plan priorities. All other projects
listed, i.e. the Eastern section of the M0 ring road, the M30 between Emöd and Miskolc,
the M7 between Zamárdi and Letenye and the M9 expressway bridge across the Danube
at Szekszárd come straight from the Széchenyi Plan priority list.
For reasons explained above, the final ISPA strategy document from June 2000
then presents a very different picture. Challenged to explain the sudden withdrawl of
almost all previous top road priorities from the final ISPA document, the Hungarian
government chose to downplay this radical departure by pretending that only two projects
were withdrawn. As the final ISPA Strategy has it:
At the beginning of 2000 a new Government Decision was made (2037/2000) to
speed-up the construction of new motorways. The Hungarian Development Bank Ltd.
was entrusted with full responsibility for the financing of motorway and expressway
development, and NA Rt. was requested to contract directly with Hungarian firms for
the construction of priority motorway sections. As a result of this decision, two
motorway projects which were previously considered for ISPA Funding, M7 and M3,
were withdrawn from the list of potential ISPA projects.