Seven ha of Bucharest's Herastrau Park must return under City Hall's ownership

Bucharest's Mayor Sorin Oprescu told AGERPRES on Thursday that seven ha of Herastrau Park must return under the municipality's ownership.

Photo credit: (c) SIMION MECHNO / AGERPRES FLOW

'On Tuesday, the Bucharest Court of Appeals will decide whether Bucharest residents get back the plot of land which King Carol I left them as legacy. The fight against the illegalities committed by different people on Bucharest's green areas I started in my first term, many illegal terraces were demolished, and playgrounds for children were arranged on their sites. (...) I hope that on Tuesday the Bucharest Court of Appeals will do justice, by taking into account the documents that we have filed over the years, showing that the plot of land in question is public domain,' said Oprescu.

According to the City Hall, in 1999, the Office of Tourism and Transactions SA (BTT) received a title deed over that 7-ha plot in Herastrau Park although green areas are the state's public domain, being part of an area declared a historical monument.

'In 2002, representatives of the sports yacht club Sportul Studentesc, the only ones who managed to carry on their sports activities with difficult on this plot of land, sued BTT and the Ministry of Youth and Sports. At end-2008, the Bucharest Court found the absolute nullity of the certificate attesting the ownership over the plot issued by the Ministry of Youth, as well the nullity of the sale contract. BTT and Domino SRL appealed. In 2009, the Municipality of Bucharest joined the lawsuit, alongside the yacht club, with the court having admitted the City Hall's request to defend a plot of land that had belonged to it since the time of Carol I,' the cited source also adds.AGERPRES