More than 30,000 cars pass through the village of Dunajská Lužna on their way to and from Bratislava and the traffic jams has generally snarled movement through town on working days by 7:30 a.m. The frustration of residents in numerous towns and neighborhoods in the greater Bratislava region could finally be addressed, however, now that the government has announced that construction of a bypass and new high-capacity arterial roads is a top priority. Since the state coffers don’t have the money needed to complete the work (over €1.3bn) an enormous PPP project has become the preferred model of financing. The bypass (labelled the D4) would lead from Jarovce to Rača, while the R7 expressway would lead cars from Prievoz to Holice. Czech Television reports that the private investor would collect nearly four times its investment over the following 30 years, during which time it would have to operate and maintain the new roads.
“We consider the PPP project as just a big scam – an enormous financial black hole – down which money from the state budget will be thrown,” says europarliamentarian Richard Sulik. But Czech Television spoke with a local deputy from Dunajská Lužná, Andrej Bliznia, who says residents from his town support the decision. “We couldn’t care less how the finance it,” he said. “We pay the highest taxes in Slovakia and we still don’t get any comfort for it.”
