Commercial airport in Fejér county

Transcription

1 RENCOM Workpackage 4 Hungarian case studies: Commercial airport in Fejér Page 1 Outlines, the local actors Commercial airport in Fejér county Fejér is a well-industrialised region of the country. The capital city of the county, Székesfehérvár is a logistical centre with multinational companies. In the end of 90 s a British company, Wiggins Ltd. decided to build a commercial airport next to Székesfehérvár, in a cross of motor-way, highway and railway to serve the group of multinational companies in the region. At first, Wiggins Ltd. made a contact with the Regional Enterprise Developing Foundation, and asks them to co-ordinate the project. Because Wiggins wanted to rent the field, they had to find the owners of the unused airport that is situated between Székesfehérvár and another small village, Aba. The most important conflict was about owning the area of the old airport. Because it was a Russian military airport, the Hungarian State was the owner, not the two local governments. Although many municipalities got the unused airport free from the central government, Székesfehérvár and Aba had to pay for the area. The airport would be important because of the structural changes in the county. There are many multinational companies, that waiting for new discounts (low wages, tax discount etc.). As we experienced in the previous year, more of them not to hesitate to move away to a cheaper country. So what the local actors can do is to develop the services. Central government Because of the low measure of the own revenues in the municipalities and the national (not regional) developing programs, many project depend on the central government. Furthermore (maybe only in Eastern Europe) political conflicts play a major rule in the contacts between the central and local governments. Local government of Székesfehérvár ( The trans-national companies based in the city stay here, if they could organise their relations safely and efficiently 1 - said Tihamér Warvasovszky, local governor of Székesfehérvár shortly before his re- 1 Albamag, 25. Jun Interview with Mr. Warvasovszky

2 RENCOM Workpackage 4 Hungarian case studies: Commercial airport in Fejér Page 2 election in The economy of the city is mainly depending on the multinational companies, so one of the most important aims to serve them. Local government of Aba Aba is a very small village. The village is only involved because a large part of the airport is situated here. They would like to be involved in the project, but they haven't got enough money, and haven't got a good network. Wiggins Ltd. ( Wiggins Airways is a well known, highly respected, financially sound, employee owned, full service aviation company. we can read it on the website. Anyway in Hungary the company wasn t well known, we could only see plans, not results by this time. Another good sentence that symbolises the attitude of the company: The Wiggins Ltd. could built an airport many places in Central-Europe, not only in [Székesfehérvár] 2. (Tony Freudmann - chairman, Mike Mitchell project leader) Regional Enterprise Developing Foundation (Regionális Vállalkozásfejlesztési Alapítvány in Hungarian, The organisation has a good contact with the Local Government of Székesfehérvár. It is a national organisation with regional offices with the goal The clean air action group ( Levegõ Munkacsoport in Hungarian, Protectors of the environment are not very active in this project at this time. But they have a strong opinion, which is the opposite of the investors. The point of view of the transport they generally say: regional airports are very expansive, and serve only a few companies, while developing the public transport (train, bus) could be useful for more people 3. Story of the airport The area was a military base till the end of 80 s, but after the Russian armies left our country, the building lost its functions. While the owner was the state, the trustees were the city Székesfehérvár and another village 2 Mike Mitchell In. Népszabadság, 23. May, Based on a conference on Green questions, lecture of Erzsébet Beliczay-

3 RENCOM Workpackage 4 Hungarian case studies: Commercial airport in Fejér Page 3 next to the capital city, Aba. Wiggins would rent the area on condition that the owner will be the two local governments, not the state. The debate between the local and central government started when the central government decided not to give the buildings free. This decision was interesting because more than 30 settlements got the unused or old airport free. It looks that there was a political game in the background. According to the most popular Hungarian daily newspaper the situation was the following: because the governor of Székesfehérvár was the member of the opposition party, and the elections were coming, the leader party tried to punish the government of the city (anyway it is not an unusual way to make conflict in Hungary). Whatever the truth, here are the facts. The following figure shows the results of the voting on the topic whether pay or not to pay for the old airport (7th Nov, 2001) Votes of the 17 MP (who are elected from Fejér County) Party Comment* Number of pay / free MP s MSZP opposition 7 free SZDSZ opposition 1 free FIDESZ leader party 5 pay MDF leader party 1 pay FKGP leader party 1 pay MIÉP opposition 2 - * situation between 1998 and 2002 The explanation was the following: because it is a business, and not a social act, the actors of the bargain have to pay for it. After an auction the two local governments had to pay 280 million HUF (120 million for the field and 160 million for the buildings). The local government of Székesfehérvár paid the 2/3 part of the bill for the area and loan the money to the other settlement.

4 RENCOM Workpackage 4 Hungarian case studies: Commercial airport in Fejér Page 4 Owners of the airport Ministry of Defence (-2000) State Treasure (2000) Privatization Agency of the State ( ) Székesfehérvár + Aba In mid-2002 the opposition won the election, and the situation has changed. Székesfehérvár didn't have to pay the rest of the money in the end of the 2002 (1/3). The investment According to the plan there are a lot of benefits in the region, and we can see only a few cost items. In the following table I try to show the balance: Costs Benefits investment: m Euro 150 employee in the period of construction Wiggins pay a rent fee for the airport only Hungarian sub-contractors 400 employee at the working airport it could be a logistical centre (not only in Hungary, but in Central Europe) near the lake Balaton and Budapest renovated airport Other results of the project: flights per day, ,000 tons of cargo annually. Development of regional airports in Hungary and especially in the Lake Balaton region would encourage and facilitate industrial investment and tourism in the area.

5 RENCOM Workpackage 4 Hungarian case studies: Commercial airport in Fejér Page 5 Environment The most important thing that has an effect on the project is the opinion of the central government about the project. There are two sources: - National Tourism Developing Program 4 - a short issue about the regional airports by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Transport 5 First, the program on the tourism developing include few sentences about the regional airports. The issue emphasis that the demand for this airports is growing, but equipment's doesn't fit for a modern service. An important claim of the program is that the demand for discount flights is growing, so the regional actors have to follow this trend. In 25 th March, 2004 the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Transport issued a short comment about the regional airports (Nine counties - Ten airports: airport developments in the whole country). In this paper the Ministry divided to two groups the airports in Hungary. First ones are the international airports (Budapest-Ferihegy, Debrecen, Sármellék), and the second ones are the non-international airports. There are two sub-groups in the latter groups: "could be international" (Békéscsaba, Budaörs, Fertõszentmiklós, Gyõr-Pért, Kaposvár-Kaposújlak, Miskolc, Nyíregyháza, Pécs-Pogány, Siófok-Kiliti, Szeged) and others (for example Székesfehérvár). What is the outcome of these issues is the central government doesn't support the regional airports if they transport goods instead of persons. Another important aspect whether the airport could be an international airports or not. It seems that the airport in Székesfehérvár doesn't belong to the supported group. The municipalities lack the funds and necessary capital to develop these airports, and hope funds will be provided from regional development funds, European Union PHARE and ISPA funds, and private capital. But, according the latest information the European Funds are not opened for projects like regional airports page 21., only in Hungarian only in Hungarian

6 RENCOM Workpackage 4 Hungarian case studies: Commercial airport in Fejér Page 6 Because of the state budget and international funds are available with difficulty, the local governments have to use the own sources. Székesfehérvár is in a very good position, because there are a lot of companies in the area with high measure of tax revenues. While the proportion average of the own sources in the total revenues is 5-10 percent in the country, it is 30 percent in Fejér (in 2002). Of course large part of this revenue is concentrated in the capital city, Székesfehérvár. Conflicts 1. Székesfehérvár Aba This is the most difficult thing. Because the two governments had to buy the area, and the smaller settlement budget wasn t as high to manage the business, Székesfehérvár loan the money to Aba. At the latest press conference about the project (9 th Apr. 2004) was told by the governor of Székesfehérvár, that they finish the project with or without Aba. According to Mr. Warvasovszky it's up to Aba whether join to the project or not. 2. Local Central government There are two dimensions of the conflict: - political - centralisation - decentralizations We have talked about the political dimension, but the other aspect is important in the same way. In the early 90's, after the collapse of the old regime, a voluntarist decentralisation had began. Every small municipality wanted to possess an own primary school for example, but after few years they realised they haven't got enough money to manage or renovate these "new" buildings. The finance of the municipalities isn't solved at this time, they have a lot of functions whitout enough revenues. The main problem is that the tax system is over centralised, large part (95%) of the total tax revenues is received by the state budget. 3. Competitors in the region

7 RENCOM Workpackage 4 Hungarian case studies: Commercial airport in Fejér Page 7 Not so far away from Székesfehérvár, there are another three local governments that on the way to build an airport. Sometimes they also enjoy the support of the central government. 4. Protectors for environment - investment Not so active at this time, but they don't agree with the concept of a logistic centre.