More than 50 residents of the Oradea neighborhood…

More than 50 residents of the Podgoria area protested in the street, Wednesday afternoon, against the construction of the Northern Metropolitan Ring of Oradea through the middle of the neighborhood.

The exact variant of the route has not been established yet, but the residents of the area fear that the new road will pass through the “heart” of the neighborhood, otherwise a quiet one.

Roadside protest

Around 4:30 p.m., people sat down along the main road in the center of the Oradea neighborhood of Podgoria, carrying placards with messages showing their opposition to a belt route passing through their streets.

The posters read “Save the Vineyard!”, “Access prohibited, except for residents!”, “Bihor on the right track through my living room!” or, more directly, “Bolojan, build the metropolitan ring in the outskirts!”.

River residents fear that the development of the road through Podgoria will increase car traffic in the area, which has already increased after the asphalting of the road that connects the village of Fughiu to the area of ​​the Nymphaea aquapark.

“We are talking about a ring road. No matter how much someone promises us, this means that trucks will pass through the heart of the neighborhood”, declared for BihorVeronica Andrei, one of the residents of the area.

Now or never!

People believe that a route that passes through the residential area of ​​the Podgoria neighborhood would be totally inappropriate. “I don’t understand how they can think of climbing the hills of Podgoria metropolitan ring. When I asked for a building permit for an agricultural annex, I was refused on the grounds that the land is at risk of sliding,” protested local resident Răzvan Marchiş.

The Riverans wanted to draw attention to their position. “It’s the only moment when we can make ourselves heard. After CJ Bihor approves the project, there is nothing left to do,” said a resident.

About an hour after the start of the protest, which took place in silence and without disturbing traffic, representatives of the Bihor Gendarmerie also arrived at the scene.

They asked people to explain their gesture, urged them not to occupy the road and watched the demonstration from across the road. “We’re not here to prevent your right to protest, just to make things run smoothly,” said a gendarme.

Advised by USR

Wednesday’s protest by residents of Podgoria was supported by USR Bihor.

The representatives of the political formation, such as the deputy Silviu Dehelean, Daniel Palaghianu, the candidate of the Union for the Oradea City Hall, Alex Orjan, the candidate of the formation for the leadership of CJ Bihor, or Mihai Śvab, candidate for the European Parliament, stayed away.

The users did not even intervene when the gendarmes arrived, leaving the locals to talk with them. “We only advised people how to organize and how to initiate a petition on the side of this project”, he declared, for Bihorthe Dehelean deputy.

Moreover, the user is a resident of the neighborhood, so he could, in turn, be affected by the construction of a new road through the neighborhood. “It would destroy the tranquility of the area. A metropolitan ring is a bypass road built next to the locality, or this road would pass right through Podgoria,” said Dehelean.

“Take an extra-urban route”

The residents of Podgoria have written to CJ Bihor, as early as April 11, to give up this route through the inner city of the town on the grounds that it destroys their peace. “We haven’t received any response yet,” he told Bihor lawyer Ioana Barla – Ţent (photo).

The people of Oradea even proposed another route. “Instead of making the road through an inhabited area, destroying the peace of the people, CJ Bihor could set up the route through the outskirts, starting from the bypass belt of Osorhei, from the Săcădat area, on the current road with crossing over an already existing bridge over Crişul Repede, with the bypass the Husăsău de Criş locality and then through the forest to Paleu”, claimed Ioana Barla – Ţenţ.

At the moment, the locals are waiting for the answer of the CJ Bihor, as well as the completion of the studies. “If necessary, we will defend ourselves in court,” said the lawyer.

Under study

Locals in the Podgoria area became alert after the Bihor County Council, in partnership with local administrations from the ZMO, ordered a feasibility study for the creation of the so-called Northern Metropolitan Ring, basically a portion of the belt, about 13 km long, which would law DN 1 by DN 19, so the Osorhei area by the Paleu-Biharia area.

Ilie Bolojan stated – in a press conference held in February – that the new road will pass through the Podgoria area, but he did not give a clear route, as it was not finalized.

“We have to cross the hill in the Podgoria area, where we have quite large slopes, where we have landslides and where we have differences of 70 meters, which we have to climb. We will cross the hill in the Podgoria area. We cannot determine the exact route, because geotechnical studies are being carried out, and based on them it will be determined exactly what the option will be…”, said Bolojan, in a joint conference with Florin Birta, held at Oradea City Hall.

“The route is not set in stone”

Contacted on Wednesday by Bihor, the president of the Bihor County Council, Ilie Bolojan, and the main promoter of the Northern Metropolitan Ring project, declared that the protest of the residents is premature. “The route is not yet nailed down. Studies are currently being conducted. I can neither say that it will pass through Podgoria, nor that it will not pass here…”, said Bolojan.

The President CJ Bihor specified that the possible directions will be known after the completion of the studies. “The route, whatever it will be, will be known only in a few months. CJ Bihor will have to debate it publicly and support it in various technical and CNAIR commissions,” he declared.

Ilie Bolojan said that the future road will have to be established even if CJ Bihor and the localities it will pass through do not yet have the financing secured for its construction. “The town halls of Oradea and Paleu annually issue over a thousand building permits for hilly areas, which means over a thousand families will come to the area. If now, at peak times, the exit from the hills towards Oradea is difficult, in the coming years the situation will worsen. The SF’s role is to block the issuance of building permits in certain areas. We don’t want to end up not being able to develop any project anymore because all the land is occupied,” the head of the CJ also said.

In fact, Bolojan stated that he had, during Wednesday, a meeting with some of the inhabitants of Podgoria during which he presented the same arguments to them. At the same time, they submitted to the CJ Bihor a memorandum against the construction of the road through the interior of the neighborhood.