City Hall has 1bn euros left to spend this year

Bucharest City Hall has two-thirds (1 billion euros) of the budget left to spend, which was allocated at the beginning of the year for investments in infrastructure by yearend. The situation is similar to that seen at a governmental level, as the public central administration only managed to spend half the budget allocated for investments in the first half of the year. The Capital’s City Hall has an about 1.5 billion euro budget available this year, collected almost equally from taxes, a significant municipal bond issue and loans attracted from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank. “About a third of this year’s budget has been spent, with the bulk of the work taking place in July, August and September. I wouldn’t venture to say that the money will not be spent before the end of the year, because the City Hall is to start other projects, as well,” states Gheorghe Udriste, manager of the Transports, Roads and Traffic Systematisation Department within the Bucharest City Hall.