Transport Development Speeds Up at Hungarian-Slovakian Border2012. január 2.
Pál Völner, Secretary of State for Infrastructure, and Árpád Érsek, Secretary of State of the Slovakian Ministry of Transport, Building and Regional Development, signed a further set of bilateral agreements to close the year, which has brought about spectacular achievements in the development of transport relations. At a meeting in Budapest on December 20, 2011, the parties finalised the amended international agreements on two new bridges on the River Ipoly, which were built in 2011, and adopted a joint letter of intent on naming the transport links.
The agreement to build bridges between the villages of Ráróspuszta and Rárós, as well as Szécsény and Pető was signed in 2007. The amendment became necessary because National Infrastructure Development Ltd. took over several public procurement tasks from the originally appointed Slovakian district local government to speed up implementation. According to the adopted letter of intent, the bridge of Rárós will be called Madách, while the bridge at Szécsény will be called Catherine.
2011 has been an extremely successful year in terms of the development of bilateral transport relations. In June the governments of Hungary and Slovakia marked out the border crossing point of the high speed road between Miskolc and Kosice with a view to coordinated planning and construction. The border bridge of Sátoraljaújhely has been open again for vehicle traffic since summer, so that local residents will no longer have to bypass the town as far as the road crossing point between the two countries. Also, a series of border crossing bicycle roads are being built between Hungary and Slovakia from funding provided by the New Széchenyi Plan.
Bridges are built in succession. The two completed bridges on the Ipoly will be followed by an additional two on the Pest county section of the river. As a part of the national program of the New Széchenyi Plan a new Danube bridge will connect Komárom and Komárno. The related agreements are under preparation.
A framework agreement pending finalisation is expected to significantly accelerate the restoration of former transport connections between the two countries and the establishment of new connections. At present any cross-border infrastructure development is subject to an interstate agreement. By contrast, in the case of minor projects (local public roads, bicycle roads), it will be sufficient to sign building agreements. The signature of the framework agreement is expected for the first half of next year.
Source: Ministry of National Development