Every election year, the candidates for the Capital City Hall make promises that have more and more impact on the lives of the citizens, but few of them become reality after the mandate is won.
Both the former and current mayor have arrears PHOTO Mediafax
The candidates for Bucharest started, together with the electoral campaign, to launch promises of projects that they will do if they become mayors.
Recently, the PSD candidate for the Capital City Hall, Gabriela Firea, said that the solutions for streamlining traffic in Bucharest are the construction of new metro lines, “together with single lanes for buses, smart traffic lights or school buses”. The social-democratic senator thus promises that the metro would reach the Progresul Station, Voluntari, Bragadiru and Afumati.
At the same time, he proposed, as solutions for traffic decongestion, in the election clips, the continuation of the renewal of the car fleet of the Bucharest Transport Company; intersections with intelligent traffic lights; single lane for public transport, ambulances and taxis; large infrastructure works, such as bridges, passages, widenings and piercings.
The current mayor, Nicușor Dan, the independent candidate supported by Alianța Dreapta Unită, said, in this chapter, in his last public appearances, that he proposes to buy 250 trams, rehabilitate the 50 km of non-rehabilitated tram line and continue the steps for extension of the tram line in Piața Unirii, as well as the modernization of the intelligent traffic light system.
Cristian Popescu Piedone, the PUSL candidate for the position of general mayor of the Capital, promises, in his electoral program: the optimization of public transport routes through the use of AI; free travel permits for Bucharest residents; smart school public transport system; expanding the network of tracks for cyclists and smart parking; expanding the network of special lanes for public transport.
Sebastian Burduja, the PNL candidate, proposes in his plan for Bucharest: the completion of large infrastructure works; modernization of the road infrastructure; intelligent traffic light systems; digitalization of municipal services for traffic management; expanding the bicycle infrastructure and a Plan to Limit Polluting Motor Vehicles in the center of the Capital.
The heating problem
One of the main problems of Bucharest residents is related to heating, a field where Nicușor Dan promises that the solution will come through the rehabilitation of the main network, at a rate of 70 kilometers of main pipe per year.
Gabriela Firea believes that the merger between Termoenergetica and ELCEN would solve the technical and financial problems between the two companies. At the same time, the PSD senator believes that the current heating system “cannot be replaced” and “must only be improved”.
Cristian Popescu Piedone proposes changing the technology/procedure/methodology for replacing heating pipes, and his solutions are: digital mapping of the heating network – GIS; rehabilitating pipes without excavation, reducing pipe diameters according to current consumption and needs: changing secondary pipes at the same time as primary pipes, developing geothermal energy sources and building a CET with a capacity of 50 MW/h.
Sebastian Burduja proposes the merger between ELCEN and Termoenergetica; elimination of intermediaries and distribution fees; the modernization of the 4 CETs; the exploitation of geothermal energy and other renewable sources and the rehabilitation and modernization of the district heating network.
Other important promises made by the four candidates also concern issues of urban planning and the arrangement of parks and green spaces. Nicușor Dan proposes to build a park-zoo “on part of the land behind the Ghencea stadium that belongs to the Ministry of Defense”; finding solutions for the modernization of Văcărești Park and putting it on the global tourism map.
Gabriela Firea plans to restart all construction sites – both public and private, with the promise of building green spaces and parks.
The PNL candidate for the Capital City Hall, Sebastian Burduja, promises, in his plan, the modernization of large parks, the transformation of Baneasa Forest into a forest-park; the rehabilitation of the green-blue Dâmbovița corridor, from Morii Lake to the Văcărești Reserve; the creation of new parks, the development of a plan for the conservation and enhancement of the Văcărești Reserve; the rehabilitation and modernization of the green areas around the floodplain of lakes in the north of Bucharest; implementation of a “No street without greenery” program.
Last but not least, Piedone promises the planning and management of the urban space in a sustainable way, proposing the following solutions: the issuance of building permits and the verification of existing constructions and in the process of completion, respecting the General Urban Plan; approval of the Masterplan of the Bucharest Metropolitan Area project for 2050: the use of a single model of urban furniture and STB stations. At the same time, it proposes the mapping of all green spaces and the creation, in GIS, of a permanently updated map, the mapping of all buildings and unkempt/abandoned land.
The arrears of former mayors
In the arrears chapter, in the case of former mayor Gabriela Firea, the following can be listed: the traffic revolution, a Centenary Park, the Metropolitan Hospital, 25 air pollution monitoring stations or Park&Ride parking lots, according to Hotnews.ro. And among the arrears of the current mayor, Nicușor Dan: the surface metro on the CFR infrastructure, the intelligent traffic lights or the creation of the Register of Green Spaces.
Nicușor Dan said in the “La Mijloc” podcast about his mandate in relation to the promises made in 2020 that he did “90% of what could be done with the resources and support” he had.
And Gabriela Firea seems optimistic about the current mandate compared to the previous one: “Now I have a better chance, first of all, because I have more experience and I know what were the things that didn't go so well, and also I have a better situation, the relationship with the two mayors performing sectors”, said the PSD senator in an interview on B1TV.
