📋 Tender Overview
The government has adopted an urban housing programme which seeks to promote the construction of affordable new homes in brown-field areas the Minister of State for the Development of Budapest and the Metropolitan Environs at the Prime Ministers Office said at the Wednesday online press conference of the Operational Group responsible for the containment of the coronavirus epidemic.Balzs Frjes said the government has adopted decisions and is making proposals to Parliament in order to encourage the building of accessible and affordable new urban homes for purchase or renting to promote the creation and retention of jobs in the construction industry and to renew dilapidated urban brown-field areas.They are proposing that Parliament introduce the concept of brown-field action area in the construction legislation and authorise the government to designate specific urban areas as brown-field action areas in a legal act in consultation with local governments. In these areas construction regulations should provide for the simpler and swifter authorisation and implementation of construction projects and developments.He said the government is submitting a motion asking Parliament to amend the VAT law with a view to reducing the VAT on the purchase of new homes built in these brown-field action areas from the general 27 per cent to just 5 per cent. They are also proposing the upholding of the VAT exemption in the case of housing rental Mr Frjes added.He said the government would designate two types of action areas the first ones would be brown-field action areas in which construction projects and developments could start immediately while the second category would include medium- and long-term areas where developments can only start after a longer phase of preparatory work.Mr Frjes highlighted that it is the duty of the Minister heading the Prime Ministers Office to develop an action plan for the preparation of the areas falling into the latter category.This category includes thousands of hectares of land requiring several years of work in the form of extensive remediation rubble removal and spatial planning the Minister of State pointed out.He said brown-field areas are areas which were once on the edges of cities but have become with urban growth interim zones between the centres and outskirts of cities. In the past these areas were typically used for industrial activities accommodated transport facilities or featured large warehouses. These areas have been abandoned for decades are untidy and even contaminated but have good transport connections.Today brown-field areas are a problem and a burden for cities. The government is proposing a paradigm shift We should look upon these areas not as problems but as opportunities. Green-field areas are the gold reserves of Budapest and cities in the countryside Mr Frjes said.He pointed out that if these areas are rendered suitable for development they create great opportunities for the construction of homes offices retail outlets leisure-time areas and parks.
