Hungary is planning to create a green-powered town with jobs and housing for thousands on a barren strip of Danube flood plain.
German property investment company FAKT invested $1.1 billion in the 1.27 square mile horticultural and infrastructure project that could create 5,000 permanent jobs. The carbon-neutral town will draw mainly on solar and biogas power.
The project will serve as a model for other conversion sites across the continent, including coal regions making the switch to clean energy.
A green landmak for Europe
When complete, Hegyeshalom-Bezenye will include about 1,000 homes, a restaurant, hotel, rail station, shopping facilities as well as schools and training units. The project embeds a sustainable water management policy that aims to avoid lowering the area’s water table. Cooling will be supplied via geothermal plants.
“We’re hoping for it to become one of the landmarks for Europe,” Hungarian Agriculture Minister Istvan Nagy told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle of the project. “This investment is the biggest and most complex agricultural and food industrial project of the last few decades and is unique in Central Europe“.
The greenhouse horticulture sector is expected to grow significantly in the next couple of years. In fact, it’s the EU’s fastest-growing agricultural sector according to Deutsche Welle.
“As well as boosting Hungary’s supply of tomatoes, peppers and aubergines, the site will host Europe’s largest inland fishery, cultivating salmon, bass and sea bream“, said Nikolai Ulrich, a board member of FAKT.
