Sebastian Burduja, the PNL candidate for the position of general mayor of the Capital, was the guest of the column “Face the voters”. He spoke about his achievements at the Ministry of Energy, about the plans he has for the citizens of the Capital if he is elected mayor and about his main priorities, once elected.
He also criticized the former administrations of Bucharest, mainly Nicușor Dan, whom the current liberal candidate and his party supported in the 2020 elections.
Asked what makes him more suitable for the position of general mayor of the Capital, compared to his other competitors, Sebastian Burduja spoke about his studies at prestigious universities in the USA and about his achievements as a minister.
“I think I have the necessary training. That’s what I studied, at Stanford, at Harvard. That’s what I worked at the World Bank for four years, regional and urban development. I studied how cities develop. I am also a doctor in economics. It is a principle of economic development, namely, you cannot develop a country without urbanizing a country. Cities are the main engines of an economy, even more so Bucharest, from an economic point of view. If we look at the Eurostat figures, we are doing well. We have a capital, GDP per capita, adjusted for purchasing power parity, above Rome, Berlin, Amsterdam, Madrid, not to mention Vienna, Budapest and other capitals, but the city does not look as good as these other metropolises because it was, from my point of view, badly administered”, he declared.
Burduja recognizes the hesitations and mistakes of the PNL regarding the candidate for the General City Hall and that the solutions to the citizens’ problems were missing from the public debate.
“So I have the necessary preparation, I have a plan for Bucharest and I presented it publicly before any other candidate, moreover, the public debate has not focused on solutions so far, there were many hesitations, the National Liberal Party also made mistakes, s- they discussed hypotheses, scenarios, but no emphasis was placed on the problems of Bucharest and on the solutions that each candidate has for these problems”, Sebastian Burduja also declared.
He emphasized that he cannot do great things in Bucharest without a team, and this team he has already formed over time, in the positions he held.
“I have a team. Everywhere I have been, starting from my student years, the League of Students from Abroad, up to the CAESAR Foundation, the Ministry of Digitalization, the Ministry of Energy, I managed to form a team around me, with people better than me in their fields, because that’s what I think a person who wants to change the world for the better has to do, you can’t do it alone. I think that Bucharest, with its complexity, with an area of 3 million inhabitants, with the problems it has, certainly needs a team of people, competent, devoted, who want to leave something behind”. says Burduja.
The president of PNL Bucharest says that what distinguishes him from the other candidates is that he has never been mayor of Bucharest before, identifying himself as an alternative for Bucharest.
“I have never hunted for positions, and for me the stake is not the position itself, but the possibility of having an impact. That’s why I’m a team player, I respected the decision of the party leadership, an independent candidate option was tried that could capture the sympathy of the public that the two parties have. It didn’t work. I think it is a much more correct version and I, personally, am glad that in Bucharest PNL has its own option at the General City Hall and the General Council. I think it was time for this to happen after 8 years, and 2016 is not the best example either,” added Burduja.
About the performances of Nicușor Dan, Sebastian Burduja says that many of the objectives stated in the 2020 campaign have not been achieved or have been achieved to a too small extent.
“His program is public, there are 10-15 points, and if we take them one by one, we will see that nothing or very little happened. The modernization of 50 kilometers of tram network has not happened, I think it is zero kilometers. Also the area of schools and kindergartens. He promised us 30 new schools and kindergartens, none happened, at least not with the support of the General City Hall. In the heating area, it is true that the pace has increased compared to previous administrations, at the same time, a lot of time has been lost. We had 200 million euros on the large infrastructure operational program, he took over the specification in 2020 and for 2 years he did nothing with that documentation. I don’t know why. I think they need to explain this because two years have been lost, and even if the project has been phased, that money is consumed from the current financial year”, he emphasizes.
Sebastian Burduja is of the opinion that the traffic situation has worsened, adding that the data show that the citizens of Bucharest lose 750 hours in traffic annually.
“Somewhere at 31 days I calculated and I think it has gotten worse in the last 4 years, not that the situation was rosier before,” says Burduja.
“Also, the consolidation part, again a painful problem of Bucharest. We have 850 buildings with major seismic risk. Of these buildings, only one was completed. I understand that it was almost ready in 2020, I say this from open, neutral sources, the press. So, we don’t see a proper pace of the works,” the minister added.
The PNL candidate says that the claim that Nicușor Dan brought the City Hall out of bankruptcy is not supported by the numbers.
“And there’s something else, I think that somehow a big vision was missing. The projects that will really change the face of Bucharest. Of course, the financial situation of the General City Hall was not a comfortable one in 2020, but if we look at the numbers, when taking over the mandate there was a debt of 6.83 billion lei, and in 2023 the debt is 7.3 billion lei”, more says Burduja.
The liberal added that there is a need for collaboration between the mayor of the capital and the other institutions.
“You cannot be general mayor by yourself. You have to be a dialogue and team person. That is to team up with the sector mayors, regardless of which party they belong to, with the Parliament of Romania, with the Government of Romania, with other institutions that have important attributions for Bucharest. Unfortunately, this did not happen,” he says.
The president of PNL Bucharest also stated that, although the liberals supported Nicușor Dan in 2020 for the mayor’s office – this was only because the PSD administration had to end – and, over time, the current mayor also disappointed.
“We are told, of course, “you supported Nicușor Dan in 2020″, categorically, we also campaigned for him. It had to end with a 2016-2020 PSD administration that did not deliver for the people of Bucharest. Many of the problems are from back then and they were serious. And traffic and pollution and heating, but at the same time we gave it a chance, with the greatest good faith, as evidence that in the General Council, over 95-98% of all the projects proposed by the general mayor were adopted with the vote of the liberal general councilors, but I did not see this support manifesting itself in concrete, tangible results for the people of Bucharest”, says Burduja.
The PNL candidate scored his first three priorities at the Capital City Hall, should he be elected.
“Here comes a big surprise and it is related to safety. Of course, in relation to other capitals, Bucharest is a safe city, but there is a problem with the drug phenomenon that is out of control in the capital of Romania, and this means a tripling of drug consumption in the last 10 years and somewhere in 83% of all the consumption of illegal drugs in Romania happens in the capital”, he says.
Sebastian Burduja says that to solve this problem, risk zones and “zero tolerance” for traffickers must be monitored. There is also a need for rehabilitation of abandoned buildings that have become hotbeds of consumers and traffickers.
“We must have a program for those who fall victim to this phenomenon. I don’t consider them guilty, they are indeed victims and that means treatment centers, prevention programs, prevention programs in schools. Unfortunately, Bucharest only has 3 treatment centers today”, added the president of PNL Bucharest.
The second problem pointed out by Burduja was that of hot water, saying that it is necessary to merge ELCEN and Termoenergetica into an integrated system, modernize the pipe network and connect the CETs of Transgaz.
“From 2007 until today, the people of Bucharest have paid over 3.3 billion lei for a few kilometers of pipe,” he says.
The third problem that the PNL candidate wants to solve in order of priorities, once he arrives at the mayor’s office, is that of traffic.
“I have this future project, Bucharest urban tunnel, which must connect Bucharest from north to south underground, maybe on certain portions above ground, we will see in the form of technical documentation, but there are also short-term projects: the prohibition of left turns on the big boulevards, the continuation of the passage from Basarab, public transport, a new, greener park, rehabilitated, extended, integrated cycle paths, as many pedestrian areas as possible. We have to march a lot on underground parking lots, above ground if they can’t be done underground, in a public-private partnership,” Burduja also said.
The Liberal gave the example of the underground parking lot at the University.
Sebastian Burduja says that, despite the fact that he and Gabriela Firea coordinated, until recently, the campaign of doctor Cătălin Cîrstoiu, he will not manage it, the same being true for the other two candidates.
“I don’t manage anyone. And she, and Nicușor Dan, and Mr. Piedone had the chance to be mayors in this city. We had the chance to get to know them, to see what they can and cannot deliver. If there are people from Bucharest who liked her during her mandate, they will certainly vote for her. I am an alternative. I have a plan, I have a team and I have concrete results that I can present publicly at any time, and there’s more. I am not afraid of any debate. I have not refused any dialogue, I have not refused any discussion, I answer any question. I don’t see the same fairness from the other candidates”, said the president of PNL Bucharest.
He expressed confidence that, on June 9, when the local elections will take place, the citizens “will no longer be fooled” and that they will choose the best person for the position of general mayor of the Capital.
Tags: problems Sebastian Burduja solve mayor capital plan PNL candidate
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