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GULYÁS: NEW DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL ENHANCES BUDAPEST MAYOR'S ROLE

 

The newly established Budapest Municipal Development Council will enhance the role of the city’s mayor and the municipal council in making decisions concerning the capital city’s development projects, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office said on Saturday. The new body will be co-headed by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Budapest Mayor István Tarlós, Gergely Gulyás told a press conference after the body’s founding session. The ten-member council, formed by central government and municipal council officials, will meet every 1-2 months and take decision on matters related to Budapest’s development, he said. Besides the prime minister, the government will be represented by the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, the ministers in charge of innovation and development and national assets, as well as the state secretary for greater Budapest, Gulyás said. It will ensure the presence of a designated cabinet member on development projects requiring cabinet approval, he added.
At its inaugural session, the council discussed matters concerning the suburban HÉV railway and gave the go-ahead for planning a new Danube bridge called Galvani in the south of the city, Gulyás said.