Conflict Between Bucharest Mayors Over Unirii Overpass Renovation. District 4 mayor takes a step back

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Bucharest general mayor, Nicusor Dan has clashed with District 4 mayor, Daniel Baluta over the restoration of Unirii Overpass, downtown Bucharest.

The Mayor of District 4, Daniel Băluță, announced on Monday morning that he had started the “foundation restoration work” of the floor at Piața Unirii, sharing images of workers installing protective fences in the area at night. Less than two weeks ago, Băluță said that he was withdrawing from this project, which was to return to the Capital City Hall, accusing him of being blocked by Nicușor Dan. The mayor of the Capital went to demolish the fences installed by the mayor of Sector 4, but ran into the Local Police of Sector 4, who called 112. Daniel Băluță announced the withdrawal of the work teams from the floor, and Nicușor Dan reacted immediately after, saying that “to return to legal status, the fences must be removed from the land that is the property of the Municipality of Bucharest”.

Later last night, the general mayor of the Capital, Nicusor Dan, said, after the mayor of Sector 4 Daniel Băluţă announced that he was withdrawing all the teams from Piaţa Unirii, that the fences must be removed from the land that is the property of the Municipality of Bucharest. Also, Nicusor Dan reaffirms that he will issue “only building permits based on the law, with all the attached notices”.

“Daniel Băluţă is now withdrawing the people from the illegal location of the construction site at Parcul Unirii. To return to legality, the fences must be removed from the land that is the property of the Municipality of Bucharest. We will continue all the steps so that the documents certifying the property rights of PMB are unequivocal”, Nicuşor Dan wrote, on Monday evening, on the Facebook social network. He states that he will issue building permits only according to the law.

In his turn, the Mayor of District 4, Daniel Băluţă, announced on Monday evening that, in order to safeguard the integrity and lives of the employees of the Sector 4 City Hall, as well as the teams working on the consolidation of the floor over the Dâmboviţa river from Piaţa Unirii, he decided to immediately withdraw all .

“I am shocked by the effects generated by the legal action to secure the center of the Capital, which led, this evening, to the injury of two colleagues from the City Hall of Sector 4, hit during the brutal intervention, with the excavators of the General City Hall. We are with the injured colleagues and their families. In order to protect the integrity and lives of the employees of the Sector 4 City Hall, as well as the teams working on the consolidation of the floor over the Dâmboviţa river from Piaţa Unirii, we have decided to immediately withdraw everyone. I believe that violence has no place in an administration of a European capital”, stated the mayor of Sector 4, in a post on his page on the Facebook social network,

Mayor Daniel Băluță announced on Facebook that the restoration work on the floor of the Union began on Monday. He later said that the works started on the basis of an emergency authorization issued by the City Hall of District 3, led by Robert Negoiță.

Meanwhile, the Capital City Hall has reacted and says it will dismantle the fences “illegally placed” by the district mayor. A few days ago, the mayor Băluță announced that he was giving up the work, because the Capital City Hall did not give him emergency authorization to start the works.

The building permit was issued by the City Hall of Sector 3 as an emergency, said the mayor of Sector 4, Daniel Băluță, in a press conference.

“We make the center of the Capital safe! From 00:00, we started the restoration work from the ground up of the Planșeu Unirii, the almost 100-year-old concrete slab, analyzed by experts and declared a public danger. The works are taking place in an already secured space and do not affect road or pedestrian traffic! Beyond any discussion, people’s safety is and will remain the number 1 priority for us in District 4! I thank all the institutions of the Romanian state who understood the danger we are facing and collaborated with us, to be able to start the works today”, wrote the mayor Daniel Băluță, on Monday morning, on his Facebook page.
The City Hall of District 4 received from the Romanian Government about 800 million lei for the rehabilitation of the floor of the Union. The tender for the execution of the works was won by the Construcții Erbașu – Concrete & Design Solutions association, the value of the works being 867,756,446 lei.
The mayor of District 4, Daniel Băluţă, announced on October 3 that he initiated the procedure by which the Union Plan returns to the administration of the general mayor of the capital, Nicuşor Dan, stating that the mayor of Bucharest “blocked” the necessary works for this objective, which he claims that was declared a “public danger” by experts.
The whole discussion started after the general mayor, Nicușor Dan, declared that the City Hall of Sector 4 requested an emergency authorization for the consolidation and rehabilitation of the floor and would not have a legal basis to issue it because the law allows the issuance of such an authorization only in case of public danger.

The emergency authorization does not have to obtain the approvals required for an authorization issued under the normal regime, Nicușor Dan explained. He said that the floor was framed by the expertise made by the City Hall of District 4 in risk level 4, not risk level 5, which would mean that it is a public danger.

The general mayor of the Capital, Nicuşor Dan, mentioned that the notices required by the municipality to release the authorization regarding the works on the Planşeul Unirii are not “a fad”.
“I said that it is opportune for that floor to be replaced, but for the floor to be replaced the law says that the authorization is given by the general mayor and the law obliges the general mayor to give an authorization when he has approvals. The notices are not like that, a fad, that we want to tick something off. (…) If you don’t have the appropriate permits, you can have big problems in practice, because there this work adjoins the subway, passes over the waste water collection box, and each of these people must say what the conditions are in which we let’s give authorization”, Nicuşor Dan explained to the journalists.
He announced last week that he would issue the construction permit in the case of Planşeului Unirii after the District 4 City Hall submits all the required approvals.
On September 19, the mayor of District 4 visited the underground floor to show its condition. Following this visit and the contradictory discussions with Nicușor Dan, the Prefect of Bucharest, Toader Mugur Mihai put the project on the agenda of the Bucharest Municipal Committee for Emergency Situations.
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