The City Hall has begun demolition work to expand the second broadcast of Prelungir Gencha Street to two lanes in each direction with a tram track and bike lanes. Although it is one of the most anticipated infrastructure projects in Bucharest, the demolition caused a scandal. Several people who were left homeless complain that they woke up with a bulldozer at the gate, although they did not receive money from the city hall and have nowhere to go. Also, people are unhappy with the fact that real estate is undervalued.

Mayor Nikushor Dan went to the Ghencea extension on Wednesday to talk to the victims. The mayor assured that he will not demolish any house until a housing solution is found.

In order to widen Prelungirea Ghencea street to two lanes in one direction, with a tram line, cycle paths and sidewalks, the city hall has to expropriate 550 buildings, of which 482 are privately owned and 68 are publicly owned.

During 2019, 42 privately owned buildings were expropriated, and during 2021 – 2 buildings, for work on the first section.

According to data sent by the Metropolitan Municipality upon HotNews.ro’s request, 438 buildings are currently being expropriated to widen the remaining street between Râul Doamnei and Soseaa de Centură.

All sums of money established as compensation for all houses affected by the expropriation procedure were fully recorded in special accounts, say representatives of the capital’s mayor’s office, but Law no. 255/2010 provides, as a separate and special stage, the registration of sums of money, so that they can then be transferred to the accounts of the owners only to the extent that they confirm their ownership before the Commission for the Application of Law no. 255/2010.

“The documents confirming the ownership of the buildings expropriated in 2022, submitted since June, are being considered by the commission on the application of Law No. 1000. 255/2010,” says the response sent by the capital’s mayor’s office.

And here everything gets complicated.

Although the demolition began a few days ago, only 12 people received money out of 438 alienated buildings.

“At the moment, the Commission has identified only 12 real estate objects, for which ownership documents have been issued, and issued 9 decisions, which give the right to seized persons to collect monetary sums. For the remaining 3 houses, decisions on establishing compensations will be issued in the coming days, and 31 addresses to be filled in will be sent to the owners of houses with incomplete documentation,” says the answer sent by the municipality.

Even those expropriated and demolished in 2019 have not yet received money.

“We clarify that in many of the many cases that have arisen, the people claiming compensation do not prove the owner’s qualifications as per the current law and therefore the amounts set as compensation cannot be paid. (…) Among the 44 people expropriated by 2022, 27 people received monetary amounts set as compensation, and for the rest of the buildings, no compensation claims were filed, or proof of ownership was made before the ownership verification commission or of other property rights, created on the basis of Law No. 255/2010″, – also transferred the capital city hall at the request of HotNews.ro.

Most of the buildings demolished in the last few days are fences and commercial buildings, which was not a problem. In four cases, however, we are talking about houses where people live who woke up with a bulldozer at the gate and have nowhere to go because they did not receive their money for the property.

Ms. Daniela lives in a house that is about to be demolished with her husband and two daughters, one of whom is a student. The woman says that she was informed about her departure, but she has not yet been summoned to the commission and received no money, so there is no reason to move somewhere.

“I live here, it’s my house, it’s not a company, it’s nothing, since the seventh month since I submitted the documents to the city hall, I’ve arranged housing as necessary, and I haven’t received it even now. day. They want to demolish me, I have to go outside with the furniture and everything I have. I didn’t get any money, nobody got anything. I wasn’t at the commission because they didn’t call or come to see how we were doing. We have nowhere to go,” she said.

The woman says that she does not want money, but wants the same housing.

“They estimated that my home is worth 74,000 euros, let’s see how much the commission will reduce. I am not happy with this money. I don’t want to get paid, I want it sold to me for the value I have for it. They are demolishing three quarters of my house, and we still have one room, I put my things there, I also demolished the front here,” said Daniela.

And 51-year-old Adrian lived with his family in a house that is about to be demolished, and they had a terrace on the first floor. He has a place to go, but says that the amount offered by the city hall is a joke.

“My house is the one at the back with the floor. We also had a store on the first floor, we live on it, it is being demolished. In June, I was sent a notice to vacate the house in 30 days. In two weeks, I left, submitted the documents, but did not receive anything on my account. My estimate is €80,000. How much can a three-story house cost? As many as 3 apartments with adjacent land. At least give us 150,000 euros. The house has a foundation of 42 square meters and is 30 years old. I’m going to court,” Adrian told us.

He says that it is normal that the city hall will first give money and then demolish.

Representatives of the capital city hall say that the law gives them the right to demolish, even if people have not yet received money.

• “Within 30 working days from the date of fixing the sums of money, alienated persons are notified to appear and submit claims for compensation together with documents confirming ownership in original or legalized copies.
• City Hall has a statutory deadline of 35 business days to issue an expropriation order, an act by which privately owned buildings become publicly owned by the municipality.
• After the issuance of the order on expropriation, the municipality is obliged to use the land and buildings expropriated in this way in accordance with the established budgetary allocation of state funds, accordingly, the allocation for the performance of the work of the utility company,” the sent response reads. The Metropolitan City Hall at the request of HotNews.ro.

If the expropriated persons do not apply for compensation or, in the most common cases, do not provide proof of ownership, i.e. do not present ownership documents, construction permits for expropriated buildings, do not hold succession debates, etc., the municipality cannot notify the banking unit to unblock and transfer of funds to expropriated persons, the cited source reports.

“We also clarify that the expropriated persons must express themselves before the Commission on the Application of Law No. 1000. 255/2010 the agreement on the recovery of monetary sums. If the expropriated persons do not agree with the amounts proposed by the municipality, they have the opportunity to apply to the court to determine a different value through an examination, in which case the procedure for awarding compensation may be postponed.” , also stated in the response sent by the municipality.

Present on Wednesday at the Prelungirea Ghencea construction site, Mayor General Nikushor Dan says he will not demolish any house until the housing situation of the expropriated is resolved.

“Of the buildings to be demolished, there are very few, I know 4, maybe 1-2 more, where families live. These buildings will not be demolished until we find a solution to housing the people who live in them. For one such family, the City Hall of Sector 6 found a housing solution. I repeat, we will not demolish. That is, we will not evict people from their homes until we find a solution, social housing,” Nikushor Dan explained.

Regarding the amounts that the city hall pays for expropriated buildings, Nikushor Dan says that they respect the law and dissatisfied owners can go to court.

• “We are applying the law, Law 255, which is a special law on expropriation in the case of road and other public works.
• This law obliges us to record the money received by the notarial net to the owners.
• So our officials and specialists we hired covered the notary grid for each of these 550 objects and recorded the money in the account.
• They are locked out of the account. Owners have the right to take that money, and if they feel the money is less than what their property would be worth, they have the right to take that money and go to court to get the difference to what they think they deserve for their property “, he said. Nikushor Dan explained.

Nikushor Dan announced that he will demolish all expropriated buildings by the end of the year. “At the moment, about 15% of everything remains to be demolished,” he added.

At what stage of work on the first section?

Work on the first section is almost finished, it remains to pave 300 meters of sidewalk and bike path on the right, towards the ring road. The sidewalk on the left side is ready. Regarding the tram line, Mayor Nikushor Dan said on Wednesday that there is currently no money for it, so the space is reserved and it will be done when the financial resources are available.

Who will perform the work on the 2nd section, to the Ring Road, is currently unknown.

In connection with the increase in prices, the contract with the capital construction trust must be significantly increased, and it is unknown whether a new contract will be concluded with the utility company, or whether it will go to private territory.

“The increase is simple, it is a project that is paid for from the local budget, and for these projects there is a Government Regulation that determines how much they can increase, and this is a contract increase of 22-24%. It covers the increase. Now, from an operational point of view, we are in constant discussion with the Sector 6 City Hall, which has some companies with which it has framework agreements and wants to contribute. This is an ongoing discussion and we will make a decision very soon,” Nikushor Dan explained on Wednesday.

About the project

The Metropolitan Buildings Trust is currently working on the first section, between tram line 41 and rue Raoul Doamnay, and the mayor-general promised in the spring that work would be completed this summer.

The work on the extension of Prelungirea Ghencea street started in September 2019, the completion period is 24 months, i.e. September 2021.

The new thoroughfare will be approximately 6 km long, originally envisioned as a dual carriageway, 2 lanes in each direction, a cycle path, sidewalks and green spaces between them and the roadway. In parallel, an intermodal hub (tram 41, buses and minibuses of suburban lines) will be built, as well as a Park&Ride parking lot with 300 spaces, which can later be expanded to 500 spaces. .