Victor Roncea Blog

Potrivit unui interviu acordat agentiei “Catholic News Service” (CNS) de catre Sorin Oprescu, primarul general al Capitalei, acesta a demarat o ampla ancheta cu scopul de a opri lucrarile la imensul bloc care afecteaza structura de rezistenta a Catedralei Romano-Catolice Sf. Iosif din inima Bucurestiului. Oficialii Primariei ne-au confirmat realitatea interviului acordat de Oprescu agentiei CNS, si ne-au informat ca in curand vor fi oferite informatii oficiale despre acest scandal. Potrivit declaratiilor lui Oprescu, angajatii primariei au verificat istoricul imobilului din str. Gen. Berthelot, din anii ’70 si pana in prezent, concluzia fiind: “Nu mai e o ipoteza, ci o certitudine ca au existat transferuri de proprietate neadecvate la adresa constructiei”. Amintim ca fostii primari ai Capitalei, Traian Basescu si Adriean Videanu, au concesionat pe 49 de ani firmei “Millenium Building Development” SRL – fara licitatie – in 2002 si 2005, doua parcele de teren de peste 200 m.p. contra unor redevente modice. Fara aceste parcele, blocul din coasta catedralei nu se putea realiza – a fost una din recentele acuzatii aduse de arhiepiscopul Ioan Robu lui Traian Basescu. Monseniorul Ioan Robu a amintit si despre o cerere adresata lui Basescu, anul trecut la Vatican, de insusi Papa Benedict al XVI-lea, de a interveni pentru sistarea constructiei. Raspunsul sefului statului, in sensul ca nu stie nimic si ca e mana Justitiei, nu a multumit, fiind calificat “evaziv”.
Revenind la interviul acordat agentiei CNS, Sorin Oprescu a mai spus ca angajatii sai au depistat “multiple neconcordante” privind terenul vacant pana in 2002 de langa Catedrala, ajuns ulterior in posesia firmei “Millenium”, precum si faptul ca: “Daca persoane fara titlu de proprietate au instrainat terenuri catre dezvoltatorii imobiliari, atunci transferurile cu pricina sunt ilegale”. Oprescu a conchis: “Facem verificarea finala in arhive si asteptam sa mergem in instanta asa incat intreaga tranzactie, inclusiv autorizatia de construire data (n.n. – catre Millenium) va fi declarata nula”. Surse avizate ne-au informat ca e posibil ca intr-o saptamana-doua, Primaria sa introduca o asemenea actiune in instanta.
Razvan SAVALIUC – [email protected]

ROMANIA-CATHEDRAL
Bucharest mayor preparing action to stop building next to cathedral

Catholic News Service / Sep-22-2009

BUCHAREST, Romania (CNS) — The mayor of Bucharest said he is verifying records to be able to fight construction of a high-rise office building next to the city’s Catholic cathedral.
“The cathedral controversy has caused great turmoil and casts doubt on our governing institutions,” Mayor Sorin Oprescu told Catholic News Service. “I had to take the initiative to look broadly at this situation.”
The mayor said his staffers looked back through 30 years of records and “this is no longer a hypothesis, but a certainty — there were inappropriate land transfers at that address” where the office tower is being built.
On Sept. 21, Bucharest Archbishop Ioan Robu accused Romanian President Traian Basescu of participating in a scheme in 2002, when he was Bucharest’s mayor, that included transferring land to developers, including U.S. investors, who are backing the office tower construction.
“We are determined not to be crushed by corruption and untruths,” the archbishop said.
Romania’s largest Catholic structure, the 19th-century landmark St Joseph Cathedral, has been under threat since 2006 by construction of the 19-story office tower that will have four underground levels. International engineering experts from the U.S. and Italy, as well as members of the European Parliament and the Romanian Senate, have spoken against the building.
The office tower is being built just 30 feet from the cathedral, which sits on an active seismic zone. From the beginning, Archbishop Robu challenged the legitimacy of building permits approved by the city for the so-called Cathedral Plaza project.
As early as 2007, a series of court decisions favored the archdiocese, ordering a halt to building’s construction.
But the building developers, Millennium SRL, obtained a reversal in June when an appellate court said construction could proceed because the permits were legal. The company is backed by U.S. investors at Denver-based Miller Global Properties.
Galvanized by the loss, more than 5,000 Catholics and cathedral supporters marched in Bucharest’s streets over the summer; Catholic churches in Bucharest closed July 12 to send parishioners to the cathedral protest.
Oprescu said his staff found “significant and multiple inconsistencies in how this land next to the cathedral, vacant until late 2002, came into the possession of Millennium SRL.” He said if individuals without proper titles sold land to the developers, then the transfers were illegal.
“We are making final confirmations in the archives and expect to take court action so that the whole transaction, including the construction authorizations that were given (to Millennium), will be declared void,” he said.
Archbishop Robu has made it clear he will fight the office tower.
At a September 21 press conference, he criticized Basescu for “advancing real estate mafia interests.”
He announced a new lawsuit against the Ministry of Religion, Culture, and the National Patrimony for failing to protect the church. He also said the skyscraper’s construction cannot continue, despite the June appellate ruling, because “the illegally obtained permits have expired.”
END
https://www.catholicnews.com/