The Luxten company, providing public lighting services for Bucharest, may receive three parcels of land for free in key residential areas of the Romanian Capital in a deal that city officials find hard to explain. The Bucharest General Council is due to debate a proposal in this regard that has already been signed by Mayor Adriean Videanu.

The draft decision of the City Hall would allow Luxten Lighting free use of three parcels amounting to about 22,000 square meters in two areas with high residential value and in a neighborhood in East Bucharest.

It is based on a law that allows local authorities to deliver public properties for the use of legal persons without lucrative interests and involved in charity or public service activities.

City officials and Luxten representatives have not been available to explain the prospective deal. And the Bucharest City Hall PR office could only say that the City and Luxten signed a 15-year contract in 1997 and that the three parcels would be delivered to Luxten only when the draft decision receives General Council approval.

Luxten Lighting has been linked to former Industry minister Dan Ioan Popescu of the PSD government in 2000-2004, who according to the media at the time supported lucrative contracts between the business group and Romanian energy producers. In addition to that, Luxten also received public lighting contracts in many Romanian cities.