Ságvári Ágnes (szerk.): Budapest. The History of a Capital (Budapest, 1975)
Documents
Establishment of a Board of Public Works Excerpts from Act X of 1870 April 10th, 1870 Section 1. In order that the River Danube shall be regulated at Buda-Pest as required in the national interests of shipping and trade, and that the capital, as the centre of industry and trade, shall be elevated to a status that secures for it all these advantages of free communication which are indispensable to the development of industry and trade: the Ministry is authorized to raise a loan of drawing to the extent of twenty-four million Austrian florins for the investment necessary for this national purpose. ... Section 3. The following shall be covered from the loan to be raised on the terms defined in the foregoing sections: a. to pay for the Chain Bridge connecting the two parts of the country for the greater facilitation of traffic; b. to build one or, if need be, two new permanent bridges to prevent congestion in traffic and communications in the very centre of trade ; c. to regulate the River Danube within the boundaries of the capital so that the capital is protected from flood and the obstacles to shipping are removed from the centre of trade, and at the same time, spacious ports and new wharves are opened to shipping and trade; and to cover warehouses (docks, entrepots); d. to open in the capital, in the centre of industry and trade, main through roads in the large network of communal roads—sufficiently wide not only to ease the transport of goods and prevent the growing traffic congestion, but also for the improvement of public sanitation; e. the cost of the general plans, contour maps, expropriations and other preparatory work required. ... Section 10. A special permanent body entitled the Municipal Board of Public Works shall be set up to control the undertakings defined in paragraph d. of Section 3. of this Act, ... Section 11, This Board of Public Works shall be composed of a president, a vice-president if necessary, and eighteen ordinary members. Six of the ordinary members shall be elected by the representatives of the royal free borough of Pest, three by the representatives of the City of Buda in their general assemblies, and nine appointed by the Ministry. The president, and the vice-president where necessary, shall also be appointed by the Ministry. Other members of this board, but only acting in an advisory capacity, shall be: a councillor from the cities of Pest and Buda respectively, two representatives each of the public IX 91
