President discusses Lake Ferto investment project in podcast

Bela Karpati, director of the Sopron-Ferto Tourism Development Zrt, said the project would cover 60 hectares and include upgrading the beach, building a yacht port and a 12-hectare eco-centre with a building serving presentation, nature conservation education and training purposes.

A campsite, a sports centre, apartments and a 2,500sqm hotel with fewer than 100 rooms would also be built, Karpati said.

Commenting on press reports accusing the project a serious violation of environmental and nature conservation interests, Karpati said the site had always been used for touristic purposes. “It has been an artificially filled land area with the Fertorakos beach built in the 1960s, the condition of which has deteriorated over time,” Karpati said. He noted that a huge amount of illegal waste found in the area had to be removed.

Ader noted that the investment would affect 0.7 percent of the lake’s Hungarian area, adding that the project complies with Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat, according to an analysis of the supervisory board overseeing the international treaty’s implementation.