Nyírmártonfalva is a small Hungarian village, 16 km from the Hungarian-Romanian border and 260 km from Budapest. It's almost a three-hour drive from the capital to visit the famous investment of Mihály Filemon, the local mayor. Using the power of the internet, we bring the attraction to everyone: in this article, we invite our readers to take a virtual tour. Let's walk along the canopy promenade in Nyírmártonfalva together!

As you digitally roam, you will see how much each element of the investment cost EU taxpayers. It was already known that Mihály Filemon received a gross of HUF 64 million in EU funding (approximately 170 thousand EUR with May 2023 exchange value) under the Széchenyi 2020 Rural Development Programme, to which the mayor added a gross of HUF 16 million of his own resources. After our article on 23 March, Filemon sued Átlátszó for not complying with his request for rectification, and on 12 May he lost this case in the first instance. In order to prove how long the canopy walkway actually is, the mayor used as evidence in the lawsuit, among other things, the tender's supporting document and the invoices issued by the winning bidder, HCInternational Ltd (hereafter HCInternational). Thus, the documents sent to the court were willingly/unwillingly shared with Átlátszó. These documents contain details of the costs calculated for each of the buildings of the project and the price at which the contractor built them. Therefore, it is from these documents, obtained by Átlátszó, that the itemised costs of the project first become known.

During the project, they were thoughtful of the cyclists hiking in the area, who would like to visit the installation built on the mayor's private, currently unforested land, open to the public. Ten bike racks have been built next to the canopy walkway. This was the cheapest item of the project, costing a gross of HUF 189,230.

For the younger visitors, some playground elements have been installed: a two-tower castle with a swinging bridge (gr. HUF 1,239,139) and an obstacle course (gr. HUF 787,400). For those who want to do sports and exercise in nature, the forest station includes a combined fitness line (gr. HUF 662,686) and a combined stretching bench (gr. HUF 683,895).

There are also two covered structures for visitors wishing to relax. Despite their similar appearance, they have different functions: seen from the canopy path, the left building, which ends in a peaked roof, is a 27-square-metre country house, while the right building, with a flatter roof and benches and tables, is a 32-square-metre shelter. In addition to their appearance, their prices are also similar: the country house cost a gross of HUF 2,742,184, while the shelter cost a gross of HUF 2,840,609.

The mayor has also provided for visitors wishing to stay longer. He also had four fire pits (gr. HUF 789,178) built behind the shelter and the country house, with additional benches (gr. HUF 1,194,308) around them, so that the site is also suitable for outdoor barbecues or warming up by the fire in colder months.

Two toilets are also part of the site, although they were only recently completed, well after the construction deadline. According to the Contractor's Agreement, HCInternational was to complete construction by 9 December 2022. In contrast, at the time of our first visit, on 23 March, the stalls were still empty and had no toilets.By 13 April, this was mostly fixed: "they installed a potty toilet and a urinal. There is a big twist here too, as the toilet door cannot be locked from the inside but only from the outside. In addition, because of the slope of the stall, the door does not close, which means that you can still see the trees from here. Once they have grown, of course." - we wrote then. The budget for the toilet was a gross of HUF 474,910 by piece.

At the end of the virtual walk, the only thing we didn't mention was the canopy walkway. This 80-metre-long structure accounted for 80 per cent of the tender costs, costing a gross of HUF 64,434,714, of which the EU grant was a gross of HUF 51.5 million. The biggest cost in the price was carpentry, grossing HUF 26,347,016, 40 percent of the cost of the canopy promenade. The budget for the installation of joinery was a gross of HUF 22,242,931, for door making, cold and hot tiling a gross of HUF 13,279,366, and for clearing, earth and rock work, and flatwork a gross of HUF 2,565,400. For certain items, the cost of materials was also included in the price.

In knowledge of the price and the dimensions, it is finally possible to calculate how much one metre of this completely pointless unforested canopy walkway cost EU taxpayers: a gross of HUF 644,347 (approx gr. 1711 EUR). So be careful how big you step here, because a bigger step (which is about 80 centimetres) already comes to half a million forints.

After our first visit, the mayor planted new saplings, now averaging two metres in height, to replace the previously felled forest. In ten years' time, they could grow up to 10 metres tall. By then, the canopy walkway will once again be true to its name, and you can see real foliage as you walk along the path. However, the mayor is only obliged to maintain the project for five years to avoid having to repay the grant. And after that, if the path starts to deteriorate due to weather conditions or if the timber fails to stand up to the strain of disaster tourists, he can even dismantle it and give space again to the trees growing around the promenade.