Hungary Bukkosd rejects Strabag plant

The residents of the village of Bukkosd in southern Hungary once again rejected the plans of construction company Strabag, the local unit of Austrian Bau Holding, to build a HUF27bn  (EUR109.3m) cement factory in the village.

The residents of Bukkosd held a second referendum at the beginning of August 2004 on Strabag’s plans and some 52.8 per cent rejected it. The factory building was supported by 47.2 per cent of the participants.  According to Strabag, however, local environmental groups have initiated an illegal voting campaign against the construction of the cement factory. Thus the village residents, fearing environmental damages, denied the company’s project in the first referendum.  Earlier, Strabag said that if built, the cement factory would create some 100 direct and 200 indirect jobs and would pay HUF100m (EUR404,800 ) as annual taxes to Bukkosd, which has an annual budget of HUF20m  (EUR81,000)