Recently, National Assembly deputies submitted a number of changes to the Urban Development Code. which, if approved, will allow legalization of illegally built neighborhoods, mass destruction of privately owned green spaces, and sectors will be able to approve zonal urban development plans (with the exception of protected areas and historical monuments). The urban planning code is being discussed in an emergency manner in the Chamber of Deputies, the decision-making chamber, and may enter the plenary session on Wednesday if it receives favorable conclusions from the specialized commissions.

What would the adoption of the bill in this form mean? In short, in a city that already has too little green space and is extremely polluted, hell will break out, the consequences of which will be felt by all residents of Bucharest.

On the transfer of PUZs to Sectors

It is true, Mayor Nikushor Dan, for almost 3 years since he has been in charge of the capital city hall, he has not proposed any zonal urban planning plan for approval to the General Council, and there are areas where construction requires a PUZ. This is an injustice to those people that can be honestly resolved in court. But transferring zonal town planning plans to sectors is not an option.

When district town halls made zonal town planning plans, it was a disaster, they proposed to concrete tens of hectares of green spaces and buildings between houses. An example is the Harmonization of Urban Plans of Sectors 2-6, which were almost all canceled by the court due to illegal approval.

Another example of the Sectors vision of the city development is what was built in the Drumoul Biennale area in Sector 4 and in the area behind Ikea Pallady in Sector 3, where blocks were built on fields, with small streets, no sidewalks, no green spaces, no schools and kindergartens This is not urban planning, this is the ghettoization of the city.

In addition to situations where investors are required to make a zoning plan, land over 3,000 square meters, former industrial zones, etc., otherwise, those who make a zoning plan want a concession, to build in addition to what is provided for by the city’s building regulations, a gift from the city. So it is a lie that they cannot build anything, but they want to build much more than they are allowed to.

The city needs healthy development, and the parliament, through the laws it passes, and the local government, through the approved real estate projects, should improve the quality of life in the city, and not give way to ghettoization, unjustified densification.

The master plan will be ready in a maximum of two years, as announced in the capital city hall, and then we will know what can be built on each plot of land in this city, and the city hall will be able to issue permits. directly.

About the construction of green areas of private property

Bucharest has approximately 8 square meters of green space per person, three times less than the legal limit of 26 square meters per capita, according to the National Environmental Guard.

If we look at the green cadastre made by the city hall of the capital more than 15 years ago, about half of the trees in Bucharest are privately owned, this is the specificity of the city, Bucharest the “garden city”: houses with generous gardens, with lindens, chestnuts, vines and vaults of wisteria. If everyone with a house with a garden were to cut down trees and build blocks instead, the result would be disastrous both from an environmental and traffic perspective.

Sports bases of former factories located on the shores of lakes have been privatized, and the new owners, in most cases, want to develop real estate projects there, although the law currently prohibits this.

In the last 2 years, since cutting down trees without permission is no longer a crime, it was removed from the Forestry Code, Bucharest has lost tens of hectares of green space. Owners cut down trees to build without permission. The local police come to citizens’ applications and issue fines, but they are modest, 100 lei for individuals, and in 15 days you can pay half the minimum, that is, 25 lei/tree.

HotNews.ro reported on this legislative problem a year ago, the parliament and the government did nothing, and the illegal logging continued.

Over the past 20 years, tens of hectares of parks have been returned to Bucharest, as well as green spaces between neighborhoods – practically neighborhood gardens.

In the cold season, Bucharest has big problems with pollution. Sensors in independent air quality monitoring networks measure up to 20 times the instantaneous excess of PM – dust pollution. Sometimes significant excesses are also measured by stations in the official network.

Excessive pollution in Bucharest affects children the most, as adults already have a developed respiratory system, said doctor Mihai Kraiu in an interview with HotNews.ro. Babies suffer from life in the womb, and the greater the exposure, the greater the risk of premature birth and lungs that don’t develop properly. After birth, exposure to pollution reduces lung volume, that is, normal lung development, says Dr. Craiu, and leads to chronic nasal problems – persistent nasal congestion, polyps and tonsil operations, and repeated infections – such as otitis, asthma.

A study by the National Institute of Public Health, carried out between 2010 and 2017, shows that in Bucharest there is a clear link between the increase in PM10 and PM2.5 (dust) pollution and the increase in the number of serious diseases affecting Bucharest. residents: heart attack, acute myocardial infarction, acute infections of the upper respiratory tract, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A document obtained by HotNews.ro shows that if pollution were to drop to the level predicted in 2010, Bucharest residents would have 4 years more life expectancy.

Under these conditions, to allow the development of green areas of private property is to lose consciousness and doom one’s own citizens to disease and death.

Legislation now protects green spaces, whether public or private, landscaped or unmanaged, because green spaces do their job and reduce pollution in this city regardless of where they are and whether the grass is mowed or not.

In addition, it is still said that the owners of the green spaces resent being forbidden to build there, but when they asked for the land, they chose restitution, even though it was clear that there was a green space or a park there. Most sold disputed rights, and those who bought did so with the express purpose of building in areas where land is very expensive – look at the gardens between blocks in Floreasca – on pieces of park where the proximity of the remaining park exponentially increases the price of apartments, or on the shores of lakes.

But Bucharest would lose hundreds of hectares of green space overnight if all those who own green space started building.

Abroad, there are also people who own parks, but no one thinks to build there and cut down trees. And in Romania, forest owners do not have the right to cut down the forest at their own will and build quarters.

About the legalization of arbitrarily built high-rise buildings

Until now, the legislation allowed entry into law only for arbitrarily erected buildings that met urban planning regulations. For those who built beyond what was stipulated by the regulation, it was not allowed.

If this amendment is passed, the legislature will essentially encourage real estate investors to build illegally if they want to build in addition to what is required by the city planning code, which then becomes legal. Alternatively, it may be for blocks that have had their permission revoked by the court and are subject to demolition – for example, Cathedral Plaza, blocks built in Youth Park. This would be a mockery of the honest citizens of this country and those who fought for years in the courts for the demolition of illegally approved buildings.

Mr. Klaus Iohannis, Mr. Marcel Cholaku, PSD and PNL parliamentarians, we all live in this city, our children grow up here, don’t let hell break loose! Don’t just listen to the voice of a few developers, listen to citizens who demand the preservation of green spaces and have the right to a healthy environment. And if that doesn’t convince you, run to children’s hospitals to look at the tired eyes of children whose arms are bruised from infusions from diseases related to the polluted environment in which they live.