Civil society representatives have announced that they will protest in front of the Sinai City Hall on Saturday against the project that involves the construction of a seven-story parking lot in the resort’s historic district, near the train station. . While several public organizations claim that the future parking lot will destroy part of the resort’s historic territory, Mayor Vlad Oprya claims that the project is “absolutely legal, justified, correct, with all relevant permits” and that it was approved by national institutions, as well as by European, which agreed to the construction of the future parking lot.

The project was blocked after an investigation by the Rise Project led to legal proceedings, and last year the High Court of Cassation gave the green light for construction.

“The mayor forces to build a terrible parking lot”

Civil society activists with the support of several non-governmental organizations such as Agent Green, Romania Initiative, Declic, Eco-Civic Foundation, Corruption Kills or Greenpeace announced that they will organize a protest on Saturday in the Sinaia resort to express their disagreement with the initiative of the mayor’s office regarding construction of a multi-storey parking lot in one of the historical districts of the city, near the railway station.

• “Aleia Karaiman is one of the most beautiful areas and has the greatest historical load in Romania.
• Mayor Vlad Oprea, without any signs of vision and discarding all shyness to follow obscure interests, seeks to destroy it together with the hill between Sinaia station and the Caraiman Hotel and forces the construction of a monstrous parking lot that will disfigure the historic parts of the city and steal from of his precious heritage,” said the organizers of the protest on Wednesday evening.
• “A walk along Karaiman Alley from Sinaia Station to Dimitrie Ghika Park is an irreplaceable and healthy ritual for body and soul. It is one of the few places where we return for generations and feel as though time has stood still.
• When things change, some places have to stay as we know them. They are food for the soul, and it would be a trauma for many if Aleya Karaiman remained only in pictures,” said Agent Green President Gabriel Peun.
• “It’s no secret that Val Prakhov needs road infrastructure, but it’s equally obvious that the decision of the Sinai City Hall is one of the worst.
• Citizens should not put up with the superficiality and lack of awareness with which the mayor wants to solve the parking problem by destroying an important element of the community’s natural and cultural heritage,” said Ciprian Geluska, coordinator of the Greenpeace Romania Forests and Biodiversity Campaign.

The mayor does not give up: “This is a unique project for Val Prahov, as well as for any resort in Romania”

The City Hall of Sinaia announced on Friday the continuation of all steps for the implementation of the Park&Ride project, claiming that it “passed all the verification barriers of the public institutions and courts of Romania, even if it took four years to be implemented.” these procedures”.

• “The European Union is financing it, the Supreme Court of Cassation has given us the right to continue it, the National Commission of Historical Monuments has given its consent, and the people of Sinai want this project.
• It is absolutely legal, reasonable, correct, with all authority.
• Park&Ride is a unique project for Val Prahov, as well as for any tourist resort in Romania.
• Our goal is to provide the highest standards for tourists, both in terms of accessibility and environmental protection, given that high levels of traffic and pollution are a big problem in DN1. All cities in Romania need such infrastructure projects!” – said the mayor of Sinaia, Vlad Opria, in a press release on Friday.

“Unprecedented level of scale”

Officials of the local administration claim that the multi-storey car park project, which will be built next to the train station, “will have an unprecedented level of scale for the entire area of ​​Vaj Prahova, being only the first stage of a wider project. the strategy of transforming the center of the Sinaia resort into a pedestrian zone.”

The future parking lot will have seven levels and will be complemented by an intermodal transport hub, a city transport station, a pilot electric charging station, green pedestrian areas and other spaces for access, according to the city hall.

• “The project will also improve the surrounding historic buildings, Sinaia Station and Caraiman Hotel, which will gain special visibility, expanding the perspective of Dimitrie Ghika Park,” the local authorities say.

What is the value of the project?

The project is implemented through the Regional Operational Program 2014 – 2020, Priority 3 – Support for the transition to a low-carbon economy, has a value of more than 27 million lei, of which almost 22.5 million is grant funding, and was signed on April 25, 2019.

Chronology of the scandal

The project was supposed to start in September 2017 and be completed within 54 months, in February 2022.

Construction of the parking lot was blocked after an investigation by the Rise Project found, among other things, that “the construction of this structure would extend to approximately 2,000 square meters of mature vegetation, and steps and walkways that are over a century old would be destroyed – part of the city’s original urban plan.” .

It was Rise Project journalists who wrote in the summer of 2019 about the Sinaia multi-story parking project, which will be built near the station.

“Having received the permission of the Ministry of Culture and funds from the European Union and the Romanian government, the mayor of Sinaia is going to start the construction of a seven-story parking lot in the center of the protected architectural zone. The parking lot will be located one on one with two historical monuments of class A: the Sinai station complex and the Karaiman hotel. The construction of this structure will destroy mature vegetation that has spread over approximately 2,000 square meters, as well as stairs and alleys that are more than a hundred years old – part of the original urban plan of the city,” Rise journalists write. The project was three years ago.

They emphasized that the construction of the 300-space parking lot would destroy 38 of the 53 parking spaces located in the parking lot in front of the Royal Railway Station in Sinai.

The Rise project also cited a study which found that among the benefits of the parking, Sinai would increase bus ridership by 327 people a year, while the number of pedestrians in the city would “increase” – as a result of the same investment – by 108 people a year.

After an investigation, the Ministry of Public Works, Development and Administration, as the project’s governing body, issued a decision to terminate the contract in May 2020, which Sinai City Hall contested in court.

In May 2021, the Bucharest Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the city of Sinaia, overturning the ministry’s decision. The decision of the Court of Appeal was appealed, and on September 29 last year, the appeal was finally rejected by the High Court of Cassation and Justice.

In August 2019, the Order of Architects of Romania publicly expressed its view on the Sinaia parking project, showing that “although there is a practice at the European level for the location of Park & ​​Ride parking lots near the railway station of the city, they are rarely used in the area settlements, where the railway station is part of the historic center, or in areas representative of the cultural and natural landscape, and only under well-established conditions.”

“In the case of the Sinaia resort, we believe that it is necessary to find another solution for the placement of the Park &​​​​​​Ride parking lot, a solution that does not threaten the identity of the area. The Sinaia railway station complex consists of two historical monuments that symbolize the history and urban landscape of the mountain resorts of Romania, the potential of which is defined in the development plans of the resort. (…) Thanks to the original elements of the infrastructure and thanks to the unique architectural style, through the unity and consistency of the location of the Park & ​​​​​​​​Ride type project, which involves a three-dimensional body, will fragment both functionally and aesthetically, a representative territory that is part from the center of the resort,” wrote the Order of Architects. (Source: News.ro / Photo: Dreamstime.com)