A Southern Great Plain region has moved forward with significant infrastructure development

The new sewage treatment plant, built with 1.5 billion forints in European and government funding, was handed over on Friday in Jászszentlászló, Bács-Kiskun County. The project was implemented by Euroaszfalt Kft. and Betonútépítő Zrt..

Zoltán Mátyus, Managing Director of Kiskunsági Víziközmű-Szolgáltató Kft. at the event, called the Jászszentlászló wastewater disposal and treatment system - which also treats wastewater from Szank - the "jewel" of the 19 wastewater treatment plants in their service area. He said that in the construction of the newly inaugurated biological, high-load wastewater treatment plant, the contractor had completely renovated the existing interceptors, both architecturally, mechanically and in terms of control technology.

Currently, 375 cubic metres of wastewater from the two municipalities is sent to the 512 cubic metre capacity plant. Previously, the wastewater from Szank was channelled through Jászszentlászló, but thanks to the project, it now flows directly from the settlement to the treatment plant, the managing director added.

A series of developments worth hundreds of billions of forints in the sector

The plant built in Jászszentlászló is part of the national development programme under which the government has spent more than 1,000 billion forints on the development of new water infrastructure over the past 14 years, using domestic and EU funds, said Tamás Rentz, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Energy.

His words revealed:

The proper timing of resources for water utility development remains a major priority, and therefore more than HUF 200 billion will be spent on water utility investments in 2024, with almost half of the amount going to network reconstruction, he added: the Environment and Energy Efficiency Operational Programme Plus is also being designed, with a budget of HUF 242 billion for the implementation of programmes to improve drinking water quality, wastewater treatment and purification, and, as a new feature, to increase the efficiency of water utilities.

Good utilities are key to a region

Sándor Lezsák, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and Member of Parliament of the region said that according to the research of the Lakitelek People's College, which examined 30 small districts of the region, young people do not only decide in favour of a settlement based on how clean its air is, whether it has a day care centre and a road network, but also on whether and in what quality the sewage drainage and treatment is solved. Wastewater treatment plant developments such as the one in Jászszentlászló are also important from a health and environmental point of view," he pointed out.