Where's the Money Gone?

This Thursday, officials from the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Ministry will give a public update on the Cycling Hungary Programme, an EU-funded initiative that's pouring EUR 250 million into cycling improvements between 2007-2013.

I've been assured English-language translation will be provided.

I'm anxious to hear more about this, as it represents a huge opportunity to promote cycling  all over Hungary, including here in Budapest. This pot of money is part of the subsidies coming into Hungary, as well as other countries in the surrounding region, in order to bring the new member states of the EU up to a European level of development. But as far as I know, no other new member state has a similar dedicated cycling fund, let alone one that's spending such a significant sum.

One of the things I like about the programme is that 70 percent of the funding is going for transport cycling as opposed to recreational or sport cycling. In this way, it has very progressive aims, although, as I've commented in an earlier post, there have been implementation problems. In Budapest, in particular, City Hall has been having difficulty putting together project proposals that are good enough to qualify for funding. 

I hope to learn more about these challenges and about what to expect in the coming years from the programme.

The four and a half hour (!!) update will be divided up as follows:

• Welcoming
  
• Background information about the Cycling Hungary Programme
  
• European perspectives on national cycling politics from Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Great Britain and Belgium
  
• Progress reports on the programme's different priority areas (infrastructure, transport, tourism, recreation and sport)
  
• The role of civil society in the next phase of the programme (2009-2010)
  
• Closing
  

Time: Thursday, Dec. 11, 1-5:30 p.m.

Place: Közlekedési Hírközlési és Energiaügyi Minisztérium (Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Ministry), Akadémia utca 3.; Tükör terem

Those planning to attend are asked to RSVP to Krisztof Szabo at szabo.kristof@kkk.gov.hu.

Local Cycling Gets Dutch Boost

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Here's some postive news -- a story that shows how good cycling initiatives can start from the ground up, with a bit a vision and teamwork and a network of well-placed friends.

Some parents and staff at the American International School of Budapest, which has a spectacular but fairly remote new campus some 15 km northwest of Budapest, in the village of Nagykovácsi, decided they needed a bike path. Such a path would not only allow students and staff to bike to and from school, it would also provide a new recreational route for weekend cyclists and enable bike commuting for those who have made Nagykovácsi a budding bedroom community.

It's probably no coincidence that the impetus behind the path was the Dutch. The idea came from a Dutch member of AISB's building committee, Jaap Scholten, a writer who lives here with his Hungarian wife and who has three children enrolled in the school.

The original concept was to make a 4 km path from Nagykovácsi to Petneházy, which would almost connect to the Hűvösvölgy path. Scholten enlisted the help of the Dutch ambassador to Hungary, and through him, got hold of Hungary's Deputy Minister for Cycling Adam Bodor and the local office of the Dutch engineering firm Grondmij.

During the planning, the AISB group discovered that several of the surrounding villages were championing a 17 km path that would intersect with theirs. The two projects were merged and are now in a brainstorming phase. The village councils have taken the reins of the project, with AISB and the Dutch Embassy reverting to advisory roles and helping with contacts.

Timing was fortuitous: 90% of the project will be paid for with EU money (presumably through the Cycling Hungary Programme, a EUR 250 million pot of money that's up for grabs to municipalities that can put together well-considered proposals. In addition, Grondmij has offered to do the feasibility study free of charge. That leaves only 10 percent to be picked up by the local councils and Hungarian government.

Of course, this project is a long ways from being a done deal, and the fact that so many parties are involved adds to the complications. But the prospects look quite good for an idea that started with a parent who wanted a bike path for his kids.

City loses cycling subsidies

This is quite old news, happened in July, but still relevant, I believe, as it gives an insight to behind-the-scene problems that undermine the development of cycling in Budapest. Basically, Budapest had an opportunity to collect several million forints of FREE EU MONEY to improve cycling infrastructure but muffed the necessary paperwork and instead got much less than it could have.

I sent and resent an email four or five times seeking an explanation from City Hall, but never got a reply. That's partly why it's taken so long to post this entry. I'd wanted to include the city's side of the story but finally had to give up.

The following information was given to me by Ádám Bodor, the cycling affairs coordinator with the national government who's overseeing the distribution of this money to municipalities.

The money originates from a programme called the Cycling Hungary Programme that allocates HUF 56,000 million (EUR 250 million) in EU sudsidies from the Road Fund of the European Regional Development Fund. The money is for municipalities only, and targets bicycle road planning and construction between 2007-2013. Three quarters of it is for commuter cycling, not recreation. Already EUR 53 million has been allocated, with Budapest having won approximately EUR 5 million.

In the last round of applications, Budapest applied for funds for:

1. commuting facilities, including lanes and separate paths,
   
2. a recreational path, and
   
3. a bike-and-ride parking facility.
   

There was enough funds for all of this, but the application for the bike and ride facility was not ready for evaluation (with compulsory anexxes missing and a lack of consultation with the national development agency). Applications for the first two elements were submitted in "very poor condition," according to Bodor, but thanks to the good graces of evaluators, accepted. For these path and lane projects, the evaluators asked that, as a minimum, before contracting be done, that at least the most important annexes be submitted. But the city missed the deadline and lost approximately HUF 650 million (EUR 2.7 million).

As partial consolution, several district governments (II, XI, XXI, XIII) submitted some successful applications for some 35-40 smaller projects.

When the mayor is asked why cycling development doesn't advance more quickly in Budapest, the stock answer is a lack of money and competing priorities. But here you have EUR 250 million in FREE MONEY that is earmarked for cycling. What's the problem?

I don't think it's incompetence. The city has employed a dedicated cycling affairs officer for more than a decade. However, it's a fact that his cycling duties were curtailed a few years ago so that he could contribute to transport projects the mayor deemed more important. I can only guess that there simply isn't enough dedicated staff at City Hall to submit quality applications for Cycling Hungary funds. What a waste. The city spares a few thousand euros in payroll expenses -- and ends up sacrificing millions of euros in bicycling subsidies.

Anyone who could shed some light on this is more than welcome to submit a comment.