Mayor Oprescu demands the courts revoke the concessions for The "Cathedral Plaza" project

• The developer of the 19-floor tower, asked to halt work on the project due to expired building permit

The Mayor of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu, yesterday announced that he submitted with the Civil Section of the Court of Bucharest two summons for Millenium Building Development, the developer of the "Cathedral Plaza" project, a 19-floor tower which is under construction near the St. Joseph Cathedral, an extremely valuable historical monument. In a press conference, mayor Oprescu said he demanded the developer discontinue work on the project.

Oprescu urges the court to invalidate the decisions of the General Council of the City of Bucharest by which the concession of the land was approved, as well as the concession contracts for the land concluded for the 2002-2005 period. Mayoralty officials explained: "The law states that in the case of state property, the concession of the plot of land should have been done by way of a public auction. Since this provision represents a special clause for the validity of the concession contracts, its violation fully invalidates the contract".

The mayoralty also urges the courts to acknowledge its right of ownership over a 155.66 sqm plot of land located in the area where "Cathedral Plaza" is being built.

Inspectors of the Mayoralty have come to this conclusion after obtaining documents that certify the execution of the works, according to the legal provisions. The building permit issued by the Mayoralty of the First District of Bucharest expired, as it was issued on February 4th 2006, and the 36 month deadline for the completion of the project expired on June14th 2009, according to officials of the General Mayoralty of Bucharest.

Mayor Oprescu insisted that his actions have nothing to do with his campaign for the presidential elections in which he runs as an independent, but are rather the result of the latest changes in legislation, which give the Mayor of Bucharest "true city planning prerogatives".

Sorin Oprescu will submit his candidacy for president with the Central Electoral Office and will go on holiday in order to prepare the electoral campaign. (ed. note: his prerogatives, apart from the signing of financial documents and vesting deeds under the law no. 10 will be taken over by deputy mayor Victor Iovici).

One of his adversaries in the presidential race is current president Traian Băsescu, who was the mayor of Bucharest in 2002, when the controversial project was launched. According to the officials of the Bucharest Roman-Catholic Archdiocese "plots of land were concessioned in exchange for ridiculously low amounts, to allow the beneficiary to develop a business worth hundreds of millions of Euros".

"Millennium" officials said that mayor Sorin Oprescu is misinformed, and his recently announced lawsuits prove that he is either unfamiliar with the legislation in force, is deliberately ignoring the de facto situation, or is acting in bad faith. They say that the Court of Appeal of Ploieşti issued an irrevocable ruling denying the request to void the building permit and as a result, the authorization is valid for the 36-month period, of which only 18 months were used.

According to "Millennium", the lawsuit of the Mayor of Bucharest goes against an irrevocable court order, which according to the Code of Civil Procedure, is a law in itself. "As this is causing us financial losses and harms the company"s image, we can conclude that we need to address the courts and request appropriate damages", the quoted source said.