In an interview with Mandiner, Tamás Németh, CEO of the Hungarian Concession Infrastructure Development Company (MKIF) Plc. spoke about the tasks ahead of the Company, the expected developments and plans.

As of September, the Hungarian Concession Infrastructure Development Company will operate and develop 1,237 km of domestic motorways. There was some protest about this, why was this change necessary?

The Hungarian state was driven by two things: one was that the number of vehicles using domestic roads has increased significantly, and the state has to adapt to this increase with its developments, both in time and space. The other is that the European Union is providing little or less funding for the development of the road network than it had in the past. It is in Hungary’s fundamental interest to ensure unhindered transit traffic. And it is also necessary that in the future there should be some kind of expressway within half an hour’s drive from anywhere in the country. The aim is clear: to build new roads faster and with better quality than before, and to improve existing ones. However, it is important that the roads remain the property of the state, and that the state remains responsible for setting and collecting tolls. We have no influence on this.

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https://mandiner.hu/cikk/20221001_autopalya_koncesszios_tarsasag_magyar_allam_fejlesztes_magyar_kozut

The decaling of cars taken over from the Hungarian Public Roads Nonprofit Plc. is in full swing. Hundreds of cars, lorries and construction machinery will receive the logo of the Hungarian Concession Infrastructure Development Plc. at motorway engineering offices all over the country. On the motorways we operate, you will soon be able to see vehicles with the new stickers on them. Our colleagues are working, as they have always done, to make transport on the motorways as smooth and safe as possible.

In the first 11 years of the 35-year concession period, the Hungarian Concession Infrastructure Development Plc. will build 272 km of new motorways. Among other things, the construction of the M81 motorway, which aims to relieve the M0 motorway, will begin, with a length of 102 kilometres from Komárom to Sárbogárd via Székesfehérvár. This route, now called the M8 motorway, will run from Sárbogárd, along the M6 motorway, across the Danube to the north side of Kecskemét with a length of 76 km. According to plans, the 31-kilometre section of the M3 motorway between Vásárosnamény and Beregdaróc will be completed during this development period, which will also bring the M3 motorway all the way to the border. The 61 km section of the M4 motorway from Kisújszállást to Berettyóújfalu will also be finished, completing the full length of the M4 motorway. More than 100 bridges, overpasses and underpasses will be completed during the development period. 

As of 1 September, nearly 900 professionals will be transferred from the staff of the Hungarian Public Road Nonprofit Plc. (Magyar Közút Zrt.) to the Hungarian Concession Infrastructure Development Plc. The majority of our new colleagues will be working at motorway engineering offices alongside the motorways. They regularly patrol the roads, check the condition of the pavement, mow roadside vegetation, install traffic engineering equipment and signs, keep the roads and public toilets clean, paint pavement signs and deice roads. From 1 September, not only will the operating company of MKIF Plc. be joined by former “public transport” colleagues, but the buildings, equipment and vehicles of 18 engineering offices will also be transferred to us. These were purchased by the Concession Company from the Hungarian State at a value determined by an independent auditing company.

On 1 September, the operation and maintenance of 1,237 km of existing motorways will be taken over from Hungarian Public Roads Nonprofit Plc. by Hungarian Concession Infrastructure Development Plc. Over the next 11 years, MKIF Plc. will renovate 538 km of existing roads, to bring them up to standard, so to say. The company will also build 272 km of new motorways and add 273 km of new lanes to the existing network.

Under the contract, MKIF Plc. will also acquire 161 km of expressways, the construction of which will be carried out by the Hungarian State. After the construction of the new motorways, the Hungarian Concession Infrastructure Development Company will provide a total of 1670 km of motorway network. Under the agreement with the Hungarian State, the concession period is 35 years. At the end of the concession period, the Concessionaire Company will return a fully renovated road network under warranty to the Hungarian State.