In one of those stories that makes you wonder just how far Hungary is progressing in its efforts to be a “modern” European country, last week the regional newspaper Zalai Hirlap reported that a labor inspection uncovered the stunning fact that dozens of underage laborers as young as 13 have been working on construction of the M7 motorway. According to the paper, an unidentified representative of one of the dozens of firms contracted to build the highway had been hiring up youngsters from nearby hamlets, offering as little as Ft 2,000 (€8.70) for a long day toiling on the (heavily EU-subsidized) project.
And as if this isn’t shocking enough, earlier this week the State Audit Office (ÁSZ) published a report indicating that, despite the drafting of middle-school kids and other “heroic” efforts to get the country’s motorways up to EU standards, Hungary’s ambitious highway building program remains plagued by massive cost-overruns, delays and other ills.
The report reveals that none of the sections of highways expected to be opened in 2007 was completed on time, expenses were not properly planned, numerous quality certificates are missing, and the soaring Kőröshegy viaduct – the “pride of the ministry of economy and transport,” as news portal Hírszerző put it – has turned out to be a massive waste of money.
The ÁSZ surveyed five sections of motorway completed between December 2006 and the end of 2007, a total of 112 kilometers, which included the Dunaújvárosi Danube bridge and the Kőröshegy viaduct.
None of the sections recorded in the 2004 law on the development of the country’s road network which were to be opened to traffic in 2007 was completed that year, and the sections actually opened in 2007 were to be opened a year earlier, according to the law. The report also said that several routes were considered for each motorway section, but there was no strategy for optimizing expenses. The surveyed sections cost a total of Ft 356 billion (over €1.5 billion) of which the two bridges cost nearly Ft 100 billion.
The Kőröshegy viaduct was built near the southern shore of Lake Balaton on the section of the M7 highway between Zamárdi and Balatonszárszó, despite the existence of an alternate route that a group of experts back in 2000 determined would have obviated the need for the massive span, while better protecting the area’s natural landscape. The ÁSZ concludes that the decision to build the current viaduct was not justified by any decisive technical, economic, settlement management or environmental needs.
Meanwhile, the Dunaújváros Danube bridge cost Ft 8 billion more than originally planned, and, as part of the M8 highway, the sections connecting the span to the national motorway network will not be completed until 2015.
The ÁSZ recommends that the government modifies the country’s motorway law in order to ensure that in the future public funds earmarked for motorways are used economically and transparently.
As for child laborers whose pitiful wages helped pad the margins of some of the companies growing fat on Hungary’s biggest gravy train, they can probably now look forward to several additional years of hard labor to help retire all the public debt accumulated to pay for the whole mess.
M7 is not EU subsidized. it is fully paid by the state budget.
Also the question of the alternatives is a very old story and it is much more easy to make a case against anything than actualy decide.
Actualy the last sections M7 have unusual low prices compared to the other motorways with the efects related above (child labour, low salaries) and others (bankrupted contractors and subcontractors).
Also I would like to point that most of the delays and certainly all of the cost overruns are not atributable to contractors – always the bad guys in the picture.
Anonymous-
The issue is not about cost overruns and who to blame. Its fucking child labor! Hungary is part of the European Union, one of the most powerful blocs on the planet. And you guys keep using children to build massive projects? What the hell is wrong with you?
Anonymous says:”Hungary is part of the European Union”.
Why? Hungary had a chance to finally become independent after so many centuries of occupation and bad alliances. Now we just had to jump into the EU and NATO and sell out any way possible.
As for child labor: I had a job every summer during my high school years. I didn’t make much money and probably didn’t create a lot of profit either, but it was part of education, you actually learn something about how things work in real life. Most of our “leaders” could use an education in reality (or at least a lengthy prison term for ruining a perfectly good country).
Jonesy
be serious. hungary has no general problem of child labour. there are some cases that should not be used to scare misinformed people – like you.
P.S: Actually the regulations are quite strict: it is out at strike 1 in public procurement to every contractor caught messing with labor regulations.