Basarab flyover passage no longer serves a public purpose

The Bucharest Court of Appeal rejected yesterday the appeal lodged by the General General Council of the City of Bucharest (CGMB) on the April 2008 ruling, by which the Court of Bucharest repealed the previous ruling which declared the Basarab flyover passage as serving a public purpose. The CGMB"s second appeal was the last ordinary way to challenge the annulment of the aforementioned administrative regulation, following the lawsuit filed by the Center for Legal Resources and the TERRA Mileniul III Foundation, as stated in a press release sent to our editors. The ruling which denies that the flyover passage serves a public purpose, will prevent the General Council of the City of Bucharest from expropriating buildings found on the flyover"s route.

On July 6th 2006, the CGMB passed the Decision no. 160/2006, by which the construction of the Basarab flyover passage was declared as serving a public purpose. The same decision provisioned the expropriation of the privately owned buildings found in the area where the passageway was to be erected. Three such buildings where part of the historical monuments list.

According to the TERRA Mileniul III Foundation, the court ruled on April 9th, 2008, that the construction statement of the Basarab flyover passage was illegal, by infringing on the Law no. 33/1994 concerning expropriation for reasons of serving a public purpose.

The plaintiffs, namely the two foundations, The Center for Legal Resources and TERRA Mileniul III, pleaded that historical monuments can only be expropriated by means of a law and not through decisions of local councils. The foundations also pleaded, that at the time the preliminary research was done and the decision no. 160/2006 by which the construction of the Basarab flyover passage was declared as serving a public purpose, no legally valid city planning documentation existed.

TRADUS DE COSMIN GHIDOVEANU