Last week Budapest’s landmark Rudas baths were closed for repairs, despite a half-billion forint renovation that was completed back in 2005. One of the problems was a plague of mold due to poor ventilation. So maybe it’s good news that the same week it was announced that Budapest Gyógyfürdői és Hévizei Zrt, the municipally-owned company that runs the city’s flagship baths and summer outdoor swimming pools, has outsourced management of 12 properties to a private firm. But maybe not.
According to napi.hu, the firm that won the tender for the deal – one Opero Kft – was set up only last year by an “unknown individual,” yet still managed to beat out two other contenders, with a bid of Ft 6.96 billion for a five-year period. In addition to the Rudas, the contract covers the Gellért, Dandár, Széchenyi, Lukács, and Király baths as well as the Csillaghegyi, Római, Palatinus, Csepeli, Paskál and Dagály swimming pool complexes.
The paper says that the city hopes to save Ft 600 million a year from the contract. We suggest they wait until after it’s completed to count their savings, and for everyone in the meantime to make sure they wear sandals.
No reason to go visit any of these urine-filled, unsanitary Buda & Pest baths even know, since most of what they are really being used for are porno film locations after hours. And everything the “actors” thus produce goes right into the water for regular customers to “enjoy,” the next day, if you follow my drift.
Also, entering one of these BP baths costs so much more already than comparatively equipped baths charge elsewhere, one would be a certified lunatic visiting even one of these certifiable overpriced health hazards, anyhow.