Former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s father has offered a ‘large quantity of stone’ for emergency works at the Paks nuclear power plant, becoming the latest businessman linked to the former Fidesz–KDNP governments to join a rapidly expanding round of corporate contributions.
Prime Minister Péter Magyar announced the offer on Facebook on Monday, saying the government had received a letter from quarry owner Orbán Győző. According to Magyar, Orbán’s father made the offer ‘after prolonged prodding’, but the prime minister did not disclose the quantity, source quarry, or company involved.
‘Just so we are clear: the stone will not be the new indulgence,’ Magyar added.
The intervention follows several days in which the Paks emergency has developed into a public contribution race among some of Hungary’s wealthiest businessmen. Last Thursday, Magyar thanked STRABAG and KÉSZ for offering technology, transport, and materials free of charge, while criticizing the absence of companies associated with the former Fidesz–KDNP governments. He specifically named László Szíjj, István Garancsi, and Lőrinc Mészáros.
Several large offers followed in the days after. Market Építő, owned by Garancsi and Sándor Scheer, pledged 10,000 tonnes of stone and its transport to Paks. Its subsidiary OKM began deliveries on Friday, sending nine trucks carrying more than 200 tonnes from Süttő.
Szíjj’s Duna Aszfalt offered 1,000 tonnes of specialist hydraulic-engineering stone, including road transport from its Versend quarry, as well as two barges previously used during construction of the Mohács Danube bridge. The company said it was prepared to increase the amount of stone if needed.
Bayer Construct made the largest quantified material offer so far, pledging 25,000–30,000 tonnes of already extracted gravel from its Kiskunlacháza quarry free of charge. The company said the material could be used in the Paks works, including for access roads and reinforcing riverbanks.
Waberer’s, part of Viktor Orbán’s son-in-law István Tiborcz’s BDPST portfolio, and Rail Cargo Hungaria also offered available road and rail transport capacity, vehicles, national logistics networks, and specialists.
The Mészáros Group, meanwhile, pushed back against Magyar’s criticism. It said D C THERM, one of its companies, had been assisting the National Directorate General for Water Management since the beginning of the emergency and before Magyar’s public appeal, using its boats and specialists on the plant’s cold-water channel.
The publicly quantified private material offers therefore total at least 36,000–41,000 tonnes, excluding the unspecified amounts offered by Orbán Győző, STRABAG, and KÉSZ.
The rush of contributions comes as Hungary battles record-low Danube levels caused by severe drought, which have sharply reduced Paks’s electricity output because of difficulties securing sufficient cooling water. Earlier this month, the plant fell to around 10 per cent of normal output before partially recovering.
The government is now building a riverbed sill between Paks and Dunaszentbenedek, requiring about 145,000 cubic metres of stone. The first 35,000 cubic metres will be laid across the riverbed, followed by another 110,000 cubic metres to reinforce it and protect the sill from erosion. Two 80-metre barges are also being sunk as a temporary measure to raise the water level near the cooling-water intake.
The immediate risk remains. Magyar said the Danube could fall another 14–15 centimetres on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the river currently only nine centimetres above the level at which another turbine would have to be switched off. Rainfall in the Austrian catchment could begin improving conditions from Thursday, while construction of the riverbed sill is expected to continue for several weeks.
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