The Government has decided on the commencement of one of the largest projects in the capital, the Ludovika University Campus project, and the funding necessary for its implementation, Balázs Fürjes, Government Commissioner for priority Budapest projects said.

As part of the project, the building of the former Ludovika Military Academy that operated in the capital at the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire will be refurbished in order to serve as the headquarters of the National Public Service University, and the adjacent Orczy Park will also be developed and will accommodate the university campus. The project worth HUF 24.5 billion in total will begin at the end of 2012 with the refurbishment of the Ludovika Building, and the university may relocate to its new seat in 2015.

The project to be completed over a period of four years will cost a net HUF 24.5 billion in total, a significant proportion of which will be financed from EU funding and the sale of the vacated university properties.

The Government will allocate HUF 4.7 billion for the first phase which includes the renovation of the Ludovika main building and the preparation of the rest of the construction works, Balázs Fürjes, Government Commissioner for large projects, who is also in charge of this project, said. The refurbishment of the main building that has been delayed for a decade and a half will begin at the end of 2012 and will be completed by 2015. This building will accommodate the National Public Service University. The Government established this university as of January this year by virtue of the merger of the Zrínyi Miklós National Defence University, the College of Higher Education for Police Officers and the Economics Faculty that demerged from the Budapest Corvinus University. This institution will serve as the largest domestic centre for standardised public administration training and further training.

Additionally, the project will also extend to the nearby more than two-hundred-year-old Orczy Park and public areas in the vicinity, Fürjes said. As a result, a university campus may come into being in a fully renewed environment, with a wide range of services.

According to plans, the park will also accommodate a swimming pool and a sports hall. The former riding school will undergo extensive renovation, and an outdoor riding track and a three-kilometre riding path may be built. The boating lake will be renewed. The development of the Bárka Theatre located in the park also forms part of the project; the theatre will be converted into a university stage.

(Press Office of the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)