The Romanian Patriarchy wants to build a residential complex on a 5,000-square-meter plot of land on Pajurei Street in Bucharest, according Roxana Wring, a member of the Bucharest General Council representing the opposition party Save Romania Union (USR).

The complex is to have eight-storey blocks, above the area’s height limit, Wring said.

“Real estate is holy! This is also the opinion of the Romanian Patriarchy, which recently asked for a PUZ (Urbanistic Zonal Plan e.n.) for a residential complex on a 5,000-square-meter plot of land on Pajurei Street. They want to make eight-storey blocks, forcing regulations as much as possible: higher than the limit in the area, an access street of only six meters, and sidewalk on only one side. So the Romanian Orthodox Church uses its money for real estate investments,” Roxana Wring wrote on her Facebook page.

She added that the Romanian Patriarchy should use its money for the People’s Salvation Cathedral, which is currently being built in the capital, and stop asking for money from City Halls.

Update: The Romanian Patriarchy denied the information in a press release. It said that the land in question is in its property, being bought in 2006, a community center currently operating on part of this land. It also said that the request to which Roxana Wring referred to only targets the piece of land behind the community center, and is a request to return to the original PUZ, of land with residential destination.

"The current request of the Romanian Patriarchy, which is perfectly legal, is aimed at taking the land plot out of the industrial regime category and including it into the residential one, with a higher height regime, related to the area," reads the press release.

"The aim is to achieve a fair value of the land for a possible sale, for the purpose of organizing and supporting the social-philanthropic and cultural activities of the Romanian Patriarchy centers in Bucharest and Ilfov. If a building will be built on that land, it will not belong to the Romanian Patriarchy, which doesn't built residential "complexes" but places of worship or social and cultural ecclesiastical centers."

Bucharest’s General Council voted last week the City Hall’s budget draft for 2018, which includes total revenues of EUR 1.22 billion and total expenses worth almost EUR 1.35 billion. The highlights of this year’s budget, as presented by Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea, are the allotment of EUR 111 million to the 19 hospitals managed by the municipality and EUR 3 million to the People’s Salvation Cathedral.

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Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com