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Navigation on the Hungarian section of the Danube

This project would deepen to two and a half metres the entire Hungarian stretch of the Danube and transform the river-basin by deepening, regulating, damming and cutting river-arms. The works can have unpredictable consequences on the flora, fauna and drinking water base and damage many of Hungary’s last great river landscapes, wetlands and floodplain forests, all of which are NATURA 2000 sites. The works also endanger the river’s functions as a source of drinking water, flood management, risk prevention and fishing, tourism and recreation. Alternative measures to serve water transport have been proposed, including signposting waterways, water level forecast and navigation systems, and fleet modernisation.

Salgótarján biomass power plant

When operating at full capacity, this biomass plant would produce enough heat and electricity to supply roughly the entire population of Salgótarján. However because of its reliance on waste wood from forestry and chopped logs, logging would increase pressure on surrounding forests, where not enough wood is produced annually to fuel a power plant with even 20 percent less capacity. Also the plant would be constructed in a populated area, so air pollution and low-particulate dust is of major concern.

Construction of metro line 4 between Budapest Kelenföld and Keleti railway stations

This 12.7-kilometre, 16-station metro line is a textbook example of misused public money in oversized infrastructure planning and flawed public procurement. The need to provide municipal co-financing has already caused financial problems for the city, preventing implementation of more urgent surface public transport projects. One feasibility study proves that original return indicators were not realistic. Industry experts argue that in the new traffic impact and financial assessments, the project was promoted as economically viable only by manipulating data. As revealed in May 2009, 11 of 50 project contracts were signed without an open tender, and while the Commission later reduced co-financing for 11 contracts to EUR 170 million, it approved the project anyway in September 2009.

Danube – Tisza canal and related dam systems

The 46-metre canal to channel water from the Danube to the Tisza is designed to prevent further desertification and also serve as a transport route. Yet the project clashes with conservation efforts and may in fact exacerbate desertification due in part to the potential cutting of water-retaining ground layers. Damming the two rivers would have disastrous impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity, threatening the habitats of hundreds of protected and several thousand non-protected species on the Tisza. Project alternatives include water retention and adapting farming patterns to changing ecological conditions.

Csongrád barrage

These proposed dams on the Tisza river upstream from Csongrád and the power plant of a maximum 400MWh/day would damage the habitats of hundreds of protected and several thousand non-protected species. Water upstream from the dam would stagnate, leading to algae proliferation and a dramatic recomposition of fish species. The level of ground water downstream would decrease, and it is uncertain whether this section could be secured continuously especially during droughts and low water levels when the power plant will likely have priority over ecological needs.