Romanian appeal court cancels building permit for Bucharest water park project

Bucharest's appeal court has irrevocably canceled a building permit for a new water park within the public Tineretului Park, south of the city center. The court decision follows a campaign by the Save Bucharest Association, which contested the legality of granting building permits for an area zoned as green space.

The Aqua Parc development would have covered 53,000 sqm with pools, slides, car parks and leisure facilities. Representatives of the Save Bucharest Association said the plans violated a green space building ban. Last September, the organization filed a petition with the courts to withdraw planning permission for the project. According to the details on the original permit, the investment for the project would have been around EUR 7 million. The developers contracted loans from banks and stand to lose several hundred thousand euros as a result of the cancellation. Back in 2009, Bucharest's Parks, Lake and Leisure Administration and Blue Ciel reached an agreement over the building of the water park. However, according to the Save Bucharest Association, the contract was illegal as it never received approval from Bucharest's General Council. Blue Ciel and Bucharest District 4 submitted appeals, but the court threw them out as unfounded on March 14. editor@romania-insider.com photo source: sxc.hu