Bucharest mayor warns city finances are 'extremely bad', flags STB costs and tough measures ahead
Mayor Ciprian Ciucu told Digi24 on Sunday that the city's budget is under immense pressure, with STB's annual operating costs and accumulated debts alone matching the entire yearly municipal budget.
Bucharest mayor Ciprian Ciucu described the capital's financial situation as "extremely bad" during a Sunday appearance on Digi24, saying the administration faces severe budgetary problems that force him to decide month by month which payments can be made and which must be postponed.
Extremely bad. From month to month I have to decide what we pay and what we don't pay. It's an immense problem.
Ciucu identified two major financial drains on the city. The first is STB, the public transport operator, whose annual running costs are around 1.7 billion lei. When accumulated debts and penalties are added, the total equals the entire annual budget of the Bucharest City Hall, he said, warning that this leaves no room for hospitals, streets, bridges, parks, theatres, cultural institutions, or other public services. The mayor stated he is forced to take "quite tough and unpopular measures" to keep the city afloat.
On traffic and construction sites ahead of the new school year, Ciucu said some sites would close before then and that the city would take whatever measures possible. He defended the number of active worksites, arguing that fixing the city requires construction and that mayors without any sites are not doing their job. He added that postponing works would have meant losing EU funds and leaving serious transport infrastructure problems unresolved.
