Coalition on R2 expressway

The leaders of the three coalition parties Robert Fico, Béla Bugár and Andrej Danko met at their session on Thursday. As they agreed, the construction of the R2 expressway from the central Slovak town of Zvolen to the eastern Slovak centre of Košice will continue as set out in the Government Manifesto. The Finance Ministry's Value for Money unit (UHP), which advised against continuing to build the R2 expressway as planned, suggested expanding some sections of an existing road instead. "I couldn't care less what some clerk thinks," the Prime Minister Fico said in his reaction. He added that he expects Transport and Construction Minister Arpad Ersek (Most-Híd) to prepare decisions in this vein and to ensure that the R2 continues to be built as set out in the Government Manifesto. Bugár reaffirmed the Coalition's pledge not to slacken its pace with or halt altogether the building of the R2. Danko also pledged the Government's commitment to completing the R2 expressway. UHP was emphatic that it's not questioning the need for the R2 between Zvolen, central Slovakia, and Košice, eastern Slovakia, but that it's instead applying itself to finding alternative and less costly ways of completing the R2. UHP recently advised against building a fully-fledged R2 link to Kosice in its entirety as being financially injudicious and suggested instead renovating some sections of an existing road in the area or building additional lanes.