There are growing signs that the Hungarian state could hand over the country’s entire highway network to foreign investors, reports Világgazdaság.
On Friday evening, it was officially announced that the government had awarded the concession rights for the northern section of the M6 highway not to MKIF, but to the Dutch-Austrian-owned M6 Duna Autópálya Koncessziós Zrt. The decision brings to an end a months-long dispute between the government and the Concession Infrastructure Development Company (MKIF), which is owned in part by companies linked to Lőrinc Mészáros, a businessman who who is considered sympathetic to FIDESZ. However, the story may not end there, and the entire Hungarian highway network could face a similar fate.
The move is a clear sign, Péter Magyar said in a public message to MKIF, that the entire Hungarian highway network could be transferred into foreign hands, one concession at a time: “The 35-year concession company is getting ready. Step by step, forint by forint.” Shortly before the announcement, the government published a decree in the Hungarian Gazette stating that
contrary to the previous government’s decision, the existing operator—not MKIF—will retain the concession rights for another 11 years.
Dávid Vitézy, Minister of Transport and Investment, commented on the news on Facebook: “The M6 will be operated by its current operator through 2037 for 44 billion forints instead of 149 billion.”
Dávid Vitézy. Photo: MTI/Máthé Zoltán
A few days later, MKIF CEO Tamás Németh addressed the allegations in detail in an interview with Világgazdaság. “The figures cited by the minister do not match the amounts specified in our concession agreement and our bid,” he said. He added that the costs assumed by MKIF were significantly lower and that the technical scope of its bid also differed from that of the current operation, meaning the two proposals could not be directly compared.
The Hungarian state signed the concession agreement on May 17, 2022. MKIF subsequently took over the management, operation, maintenance, and expansion of 1,237 kilometers of existing expressways on September 1, 2022. The roads, however, remained state-owned.
Even though Dávid Vitézy has never discussed the issue,
maintenance of the M5 and M6 highways continues to cost significantly more per kilometer than maintenance of the network operated by MKIF.
Budgetary funding for the M5 and M6 amounts to approximately 462 million forints (1.27 million euros, based on an exchange rate of 1 euro = 363 forints) per kilometer per year, compared with approximately 162 million forints per kilometer per year for the MKIF network.
The transport minister, meanwhile, said: “Based on what we have seen, this is not really a concession, but rather a mechanism for diverting public funds.”
Taken together, the concession is no longer simply a matter of road maintenance, but has become an infrastructure development program worth several trillion forints, MKIF CEO Tamás Németh said. He added: “We cannot be expected to simply accept it and walk away if the Hungarian state decides overnight that it no longer needs the concession structure, without settling the investments we have already made.”
If the TISZA government decides to strip MKIF of its concession rights to the highway network, it has two options. It could transfer them to Magyar Közút, the state road management company. In that case, however, the state would likely allocate significantly less funding for the network. In the past, the state was often unwilling to invest in highways, which led to a significant deterioration in their condition.
Another option is to hand them over to foreign investors.
The latter possibility was reinforced by the government’s decision on Friday evening.
Via Világgazdaság, Featured image: MTI/Vajda János
The post Domestic Highway Concession Raises Fears of Foreign Ownership appeared first on Hungary Today.
Domestic Highway Concession Raises Fears of Foreign Ownership 2026
IUSTITIA.BG – Investigations 2009-2026 2026-09-07 15:18:09
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