Did you enjoy the Christmas lights in Bucharest? It would be good, because they cost more than 10 million lei. This is only the amount given by the Metropolitan City Hall and the City Halls of sectors 1, 5, and 6. The rest of the mayors withheld information. Although HotNews.ro has requested data since December 5 under Law 544/2001 on free access to information of public interest, we have not received any response. I also did not find any information in the electronic public procurement system, although the light bulbs were on.

Although they are expensive and not a necessity, many residents of Bucharest criticized the local administration when they did not put up such decorations. More than 10 years ago, only the capital city hall illuminated several boulevards in the central part. I also put up the District Town Halls for a few years, so we have miles of string lights all over the city.

The city hall pays for the electricity for the lights installed in the city. Sectors pay only for installations placed in parks.

“For all festive light installations connected to the public lighting system, the cost of electricity is paid by PMB. For festive lighting installations that are not powered by the public lighting system (example: parks belonging to the sectors), the energy is supported directly by the sectors,” said the response of the Metropolitan City Hall to HotNews.ro’s request.

City Hall of the capital

The City Hall of the capital, through the Municipal Public Lighting Company, concluded two contracts for Christmas lights for a total of 5.3 million lei:

• one of the 3.35 million lei for “Rent of festive light decorations during the winter holidays 2023-2024 with the company TOTAL ELECTRO PROJECT SOLUTIONS SRL The contract was concluded on November 8.
• one of about two million lei for the “Supply of Holiday Light Decorations” with MK ILLUMINATION. The contract was concluded on November 8 and concerns the purchase of curtains and LED filaments.

In Bucharest, district town halls have also installed lights, each with a separate contract.

District 1 of the Town Hall

According to data from the electronic public procurement system, the City Hall of Sector 1, led by Mayor Clotilde Armand, paid almost 1 million lei for festive lighting:

• about 250,000 lei for scenery installation services, the contract was concluded with Compania Municipală Iluminat Public București SRL;
• about 735,000 lei for renting jewelry from MK ILLUMINATION and Architectural Design Proiect companies;

Town hall of the 2nd district

The City Hall of Sector 2, headed by Mayor Radu Mihaiu, did not report this information. There is no data on the purchase in the electronic public procurement system either, although the streets were decorated in the 2nd sector.

District 3 of the Town Hall

Sector 3 City Hall, headed by Robert Negoitz, has a framework agreement for 4.4 million lei for holiday lighting for 4 years, signed in December 2021 with the Sector 3 City Hall company, Internet and Technology S3. Until 2022, the maximum amount that could be spent per year was 650,000 lei, but this threshold has been removed.

The purchase is not reflected in the electronic public procurement system, so we do not know from whom the lamps were purchased and how much they cost. I asked for information regarding Law 544/2001, but the only answer I received from the City Hall company was that there is no lighting installed on Laminor.

Town hall of the 4th district

The City Hall of Sector 4, led by Mayor Daniel Beluce, did not disclose this information. There is no data on the purchase in the electronic public procurement system either, although the streets were decorated in the 4th sector.

Town hall of the 5th district

The City Hall of Sector 5, led by Christian Popescu Piedone, paid for the rental of Christmas lights and their installation about 900,000 lei without VAT. That is, more than 1 million lei with VAT, according to data provided at the request of HotNews.ro. The contract was leased to Energo Instal SRL.

The installations were installed on the following roads: the intersection of Calea Rahovei x Calea Ferentari, Calea Rahovei x Soseau Progresului, Soseau Alexandrei x Soseau Antiaeriana, »>Calea 13 Septembrie x Tudor Vladimirescu Boulevard, Str. Dumbrava Noua x Str. Barka, str. Dumbrava Noua x Str. Buzoieni, Calea Ferentari x Sălaj Road, Panduri Road, Sebastian Park, Sebastian Promenade, Ferentari Promenade x Zamfir Olaru, Romniceanu Park, Pecineaga Park, Vigoniei Park, Hero Park, Rahova Square development.

District 6 of the Town Hall

According to the information sent by the institution upon HotNews.ro’s request, the City Hall of Sector 6, led by Ciprian Chuku, only decorated the parks with lights and paid about 1.8 million lei for it.

“The framework agreement was concluded four years ago by the Public Property Management and Urban Development Sector 6 with the company Flash Lighting Services,” the response also states.