Repair work on the section of the M30 highway between Miskolc and Szikszó (northeastern Hungary) continues to cause heated controversy between the Hungarian government and the Austrian construction company Strabag. The Ministry of Construction and Transport has described the ongoing delays as “a disgrace and an embarrassment.”
Bálint Nagy, State Secretary for Transport, said in a video message on the ministry’s social media page on Friday that Strabag would not be able to meet the agreed deadline for rectifying the defects. The company had contractually committed to completing the necessary repair work by the end of October.
However, it is already clear that they will not be able to complete the work by the end of this month, which is a disgrace and an embarrassment,”
said Bálint Nagy.
Fact
As Hungary Today previously reported, the section of the M30 motorway between Miskolc and Szikszó (northeastern Hungary) was closed on February 17, 2024. The reason for this was significant road displacement and cracks in the pavement. It turned out that the road had subsided due to serious construction defects – a serious issue that occurred less than two and a half years after the section was handed over in October 2021.As the affected section is considered a warranty road, Strabag AG had to cover the entire cost of repairing the defects. Back in March 2025, Hungarian Minister of Construction and Transport János Lázár confirmed that the entire section would have to be completely rebuilt due to the damage. The intensive repair work finally began on February 17, 2025.
The State Secretary emphasized that the affected section of the M30 had to be closed long ago due to planning and execution problems, with traffic safety being the top priority. Bálint Nagy announced that the “omission would not remain without consequences” and that the ministry would do everything in its power to ensure that road users could use the affected section again as soon as possible.
Strabag’s work is a disgrace: what they built has sunk, what they promised has remained an empty promise – it is time for them to take responsibility for their total failure, because this country is not the place for experimental bunglers,” the ministry wrote in the video message.
Parallel to the criticism, an internal letter from Strabag originally intended for employees appeared in the Hungarian press. In this leaked communication, the Austrian construction company explains the reasons for the delay and at the same time rejects responsibility for the original defects, as reported by Telex. According to this document, subsoil consolidation—the compaction of the soil through the escape of water and air—is the main reason for the delay.
This process is proceeding more slowly than expected, which is why construction of the road structure layers cannot yet begin and the deadline set by the Minister of Construction and Transport, János Lázár, in February for the end of October “can no longer be met.”
Strabag further argues that the damage to the road surface is due to previously unknown pressurized water in the subsoil after completion. This water softened and saturated the subsoil, leading to cracks and uneven subsidence of the embankment. The movement of water was not foreseeable either during the planning or during the execution of the project, it said.
The Austrian company said it had rejected the ministry’s warranty claim on the basis of the geological conditions and presented three different remediation options, but had not received a “substantive response and decision” from the ministry. Without such a decision and given the risk posed by the local geological conditions, the work could not continue.
M3 highway Photo: Facebook/Építési és Közlekedési Minisztérium
In the internal letter, Strabag emphasized that continuing under these conditions would pose “a technically disproportionately high risk” that they consider “unacceptable from both a technical and safety perspective.” The company pointed out that despite the “unrealistically short and technically unjustified deadline,” employees had worked almost day and night.
The situation is therefore continuing to escalate, as Transport Minister János Lázár had already threatened in the past to ban Strabag from Hungary if it failed to meet the requirements. The closure of the affected section of the M30 motorway has been in place since February 2024.
Via MTI; Telex; Featured image: MTI/Vajda János
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