Safe flood protection for Óbuda! Natural, green and clean beach for Budapest!
The Planned Mobile-Bearing wall for Flood at the Római Banks
The municipality of Budapest plans to complete the flood protection of the area beneath the Római Banks on the riverside, with mobile-bearing walls. This solution wouldn’t give full protection for the 55.000 inhabitants of the area, and the pebbly banks full of trees would become a victim of the construction, putting an end to the last natural connection between the city and the Danube.
The Renewal of the Római Banks
We love these banks nowadays because of its special atmosphere, it’s trees which give us shades, its unique bars and restaurants and its boat-houses. Of course we wouldn’t say it is perfect in this condition:
The Safety of the People Living in the Floodplain and the Rational Use of the Area is Very Important
We support the development of a centralized process of flood protection at the banks, which protects the area against muddle-range floods happening in every 5 to 10 years and which does not damage the environment.
The Current, Broke-down State of the Banks Should be Reorganized
The promenade, which is in a very bad shape by now, should be renewed with furnitures which resist floods, public spaces, playgrounds, toilets, buffets and cycling paths, using planning solutions which help the peaceful coexistence of the different users (pedestrians, children, cyclists, rowers etc.)!
If the mobile-bearing wall will be constructed:
1.500 Trees will be Cut and the Pebbly Beach Won’t Exist any more
A majority of the 2.000 trees on the banks will be cut in order to avoid the danger of fallout. The edges of the banks will receive the stones which you can see in the inner parts of Budapest, thus the pebbles will be removed and the lively fauna will perish. The Római, as we liked it, will disappear together with the trees which gave us shade and oxygen, and the banks become an engineery desert.
The Area Behind the Wall Becomes Swampy
The mobile wall can reach up to 4 meters, which requires two-three times as deep ferroconcrete foundation on the whole 3 kilometres wide riverside section. This underground wall will cut the underground water streams coming from the hill in 6-8 meters underground, which results in swampyness of the protected side of the wall.
A Risky Solution Instead of Real Protection
The plan developers admitted themselves in 2013, that is a realistic risk for the mobile wall to break if a bigger floating branch or piece of ice collides into it, thus an emergency plan was written in which it is stated that protection should be conducted at the Nánási-Királyok útja section as well. If the current primary defense line at Nánási-Királyok becomes out of use, the lives and properties of 55.000 inhabitants of the district will be under risk. An expensive mobile-bearing wall will be constructed which gives a false atmosphere of security – instead of a really secure solution for decades: a concrete dam at Nánási-Királyok útja.
Unnecessary Change of the Conduits
The high pressure conduit-pipe providing 25% of the water supply of Budapest runs under the promenade at the Római Banks. There is a hundred kilometres of these SENTAB pipes running under the city, which have a diameter of a tractor wheel (120 cm). The change or redemption of the pipe would cost 2 billion Hungarian Forints (approximately 6,5 million Euros) only have to be spent because of the wall at the banks. The pipes running at Nánási-Királyok útja can be shut out of the network any time in case of flood protection, while the SENTAB pipe at
Római does not have this feature.
A Political Question? Floods don’t vote Fortunately, this case is above parties. The Municipality Council did vote in favour of the mobile wall, but all parties have members on both the supporters and opposers. We are sure that in case of receiving full information on the projects, all of them will be in favour of the more secure, more rational and much cheaper solution: the dam at Nánási út. István Tarlós, Mayor of Budapest and ex-Mayor of the 3rd District where the Római Banks are located, is somehow very convinced about the walls at the riverside, together with the Pro-Római Banks Association, an NGO with a misleading name – even if this leads to the destruction of the Banks, which the Mayor also loves. The only people interested in the construction are those who own real estates between the Danube and the Nánási street, in the floodplain of the river, which have been flooded many times earlier. The buildings which were constructed in the past decades – partly in the time Tarlós was mayor of the district – and their so-called „first usage level” have been flooded, are actually illegal construction.
How Much Does it Cost?
We quote the figures of the Budapest City Municipality – a research ordered by the City Municipality in 2005 analysed all alternatives. Since then, we only have estimates:
Logically thinking about it, we don’t understand how a precision-work, temporarily implemented product which needs storage, maintenance and also a foundation can be cheaper than a higher, but still concrete wall.
How can I help you?
Support us! We are collecting donations in order to inform the people Fák a Rómain, 16200151-18531558, Magnet Bank, write „adomány” (donation) in the subject
- Talk about the topic with your neighbours, on the banks, at your working place against the mobile wall destructing the Római Banks!
- Support and share our Facebook page:facebook.com/FakARomain
- Sign up for our activist recruitment / alert chain / newsletter!
- Use the banks: organize your meeting here, let it be your kid’s birthday party, a rendezvous or just a walk. Learn how to row!
- Write a letter to your municipality representative or the Mayor of the District (bus.balazs@obuda.hu), of the City (tarlosistvan@budapest.hu)! Attend their receiving hours and tell them your opinion!
- Co-finance the campaign by sending us a sum of your choice, which we will spend on printing costs of the Hungarian version of this info-sheet and other printables: Bank: Magnet Bank Account holder: FÁKaRómain Account number: 16200151-18531558 Write into the notice field: donation
