The start of the construction works on the Esplanada project might not happen any sooner than within the next three years, given that the Government has to clarify the issues in order to sign the contract and officially transfer the project. The representatives of the City Hall that participated in the joint talks requested a two and a half-year period to clear the legal status of around half of the land, which is claimed by several owners.
"The Finance and Justice Ministries will have to solve two issues; one of them has to do with revocable property, whereby the investor, TriGranit, will get temporary ownership of the project in order to raise financing from banks, whilst the second issue has to do with the transfer of the project to the City Hall, which should buy the half of the land that we do not own in two and a half years," Development, Public Works and Housing Minister Laszlo Borbely stated during a roundtable, which debated the situation of the Esplanada project, set to be built on a 10.7 hectare plot of land on Unirii Boulevard in Bucharest.
The transfer of the project under the administration of the City Hall could take anything from two weeks to the entire period up until after the elections, given that a large part of government members are already pre-campaigning, explained Borbely, who believes that the Ministry he runs saw the mandate set by the Government through.
"As far as I am concerned, this project can be undertaken by the City Hall. This is a new situation for me here and I cannot say now what the Bucharest Mayor feels. The General Urban Plan indicates this area as one available for building. I have discussed with the Mayor but he needs to analyse the project first and needs counselling. I believe there is room for talks," stated Gheorghe Patrascu, Bucharest chief architect.
Bucharest Mayor Sorin Oprescu had said during his electoral campaign that he wanted a park built on the land that was supposed to be the site of the "Cantarea Romaniei" ("Ode to Romania") cultural centre before 1989.
On the other hand, lawyer Alexandru Morarescu, who represents several owners of that particular plot of land, says that approximately 70% of the lot is either owned or claimed by various people, who "do not want a park developed on this plot of land."
The story of the Esplanada project started almost five years ago, in 2004, when a tender was organised, won by TriGranit Development, controlled by Hungarian and Canadian businessmen and the Austrian investment fund Immoeast.
"We've been in the unfortunate position of going through three or four changes of ministers since the beginning of this project and I can say that we've often failed to reach an agreement and there has been no continuity for negotiations. We would lose several months for the new minister to become familiar with the file and after joint talks, to which the City Hall participated, too, the worst thing that could happen would be for the same City Hall, but with a new head, to call it quits," said Dan Ghibernea, country manager of TriGranit in Romania.
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