Hungary to spend close to 3.5 bln USD on ambitious road program

BUDAPEST, April 5 (Xinhua) -- The Hungarian government will spend some 980 billion forints (3.43 billion U.S. dollars) by 2024 on the development of its road network, according to official sources here on Friday.

"By 2024, the State will spend some 980 billion forints in five installments on the development of the Hungarian road network," the official Hungarian Journal announced here on Friday.

In the relevant government decree, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called on Finance Minister Mihaly Varga to supervise the management of the necessary sources of the ambitious project.

The decree does not give details of the different projects at this moment, but the government has already announced the enlargement of the M1 motorway (linking Hungary with Austria) and parts of the M7 motorway (linking Budapest with the tourist center Balaton Lake).

In addition, the Hungarian government wants all the major cities of neighboring countries to be reachable by cars and trucks.

Part of the fund for the project will certainly come from the European Union, of which Hungary is a member since 2004.

In the decree, Orban also called on Minister of Innovation and Technology, Laszlo Palkovics, to ensure the continued provision of EU funds for the implementation of the road program.(1 U.S. dollar = 285.96 Hungarian forints)