Another half a billion. Metrostav extended the lawsuit to Prague over the Blanka tunnel
The construction company Metrostav extended the lawsuit against Prague over the Blanka tunnel by more than 500 crowns. The amount sued for unpaid invoices is 2.7 billion crowns. These are invoices that are overdue. Metrostav spokesman František Polák introduced it. The next hearing at the arbitration court will be on March 10.
The original amount sued in the amount of over 2.1 billion crowns was for the work that Metrostav had done by October. “The increase concerns overdue invoices for work performed in November and early December,” said Polák. “We have had invoices for several months and we have been counting on this step.
That is why we asked Metrostav to prove that the works were properly ordered and carried out, “said Mayor Tomáš Hudeček (TOP 09) in response. “If Prague duly proves everything, we will not have a problem paying, but unfortunately this has not happened yet,” he added.
How the Blanka tunnel complex was built
The dispute is settled by an arbitral tribunal after Metrostav on December 7 last year the construction of the tunnel was interrupted. The reason is mainly unpaid invoices, but also the fact that Prague, as an investor, did not approve further work.
According to Metrostav, the builders could not continue. The city entered the arbitration due to fears that the contracts with Metrostav are invalid. He has money for invoices, but he is afraid that he cannot legally repay. According to some information, Prague did not order about a billion of the unpaid money and never approved it.
See the Blanka tunnel complax
Abrasion date? Unknown
Blanka, who will cost about 36 billion crowns in Prague, was originally supposed to serve drivers as early as 2011. The date was later postponed to spring 2014, now Mayor Tomáš Hudeček (TOP 09) is talking about the end of the summer. “The date simply cannot be set, we cannot say the date,” the mayor said at the council meeting.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that Prague so far does not have equipped control rooms, from which the operation of the Blanka tunnel will be controlled. The construction of temporary control centers will take several months, and Prague has not yet selected a company that will supply the necessary technologies and provide the tests necessary to start operations.
Deputy Nouza said on Wednesday that he would do everything to get Blanka to ride in September. The opposition questions this. Former mayor and now opposition representative Bohuslav Svoboda (ODS) said today that the estimates are in favor at the end of the year. “This is a term for me, which is very bad and very burdensome for Prague and falls on the head of this council,” he said.
The construction of the Blanka tunnel was approved by Prague in the late 1990s |
---|
Mid 90s – Prague decided between three variants of the northwestern part of the city’s ring road under the names Dana, Hana and Blanka. In the end, the last mentioned version was given priority, the route of which leads from large parts below Stromovka. |
June 2001 – The cost of building the northwestern part of the inner ring road of Prague was estimated at 16 billion crowns. |
September 2003 – The city has considered involving private investors in financing the construction of the Blanka complex as part of a public-private partnership. In this context, Councilor Radovan Steiner estimated the construction costs at more than 20 billion. |
December 2004 – Refined cost estimate for the north-western part of the circuit by 22 billion |
September 26, 2006 – Prague councilors selected the winners of the tender for the construction of Blanka. It became Metrostav, which offered a price of 21.2 billion crowns with VAT. Another roughly three billion was to cost technology or track possible home movements. The construction work was to be completed in 2011. |
June 2007 – At Letná, the workers started preparatory work before digging the tunnels, and work had been done in Troja since the spring. |
May 20, 2008 – The soil in Prague’s Stromovka collapsed due to the construction of a tunnel, a similar accident occurred in the park five months later. The last tunnel under construction collapsed in July 2010, at the Ministry of Culture in Prague 6. |
June 19, 2008 – The then mayor Pavel Bém (ODS) said that he would work 50 hours in favor of the Auto * Mat association if the complex Blanka costs more than 25.7 billion crowns. Activists at the time estimated that the price would be about 15 billion higher. |
November 2009 – The company IDS, which manages the construction of Blanka for the city, admitted that the construction of the entire complex is 13 months late. The opening date was to be December 2012. |
January 12, 2010 – The first tube of the tunnel was completely pierced; the last excavation ended in July 2011. |
February 11, 2010 – Metrostav informed that the change in the amount of VAT will increase the Blanka complex by about 700 million crowns. |
February 2011 – The new mayor Bohuslav Svoboda, who came to the head of the municipality after the elections in the autumn of 2010, stated that Blanka will become more expensive by about ten billion crowns. Increase to 37 billion eligibility of additionally added part of the construction (five billion), more expensive technology (billion) or inflationary valorisation (3.5 billion). |
August 9, 2011 – Deputy Mayor Karel Březina (CSSD) said that the tunnel should start operating in the first half of 2014 (later on May 1, 2014). The reason for the postponement was the financial difficulties of the city. |
October 2011 – The management of Prague announced that it has negotiated a reduction in construction costs, yet it will pay at least 36 billion crowns for the tunnel. According to Březina, savings were found in suppliers and in the requirements of, for example, city districts. |
May 2012 – The city stopped paying Metrostav invoices for Blanka. The reason was a significant increase in price and fears of the city management from a possible conflict with the Public Procurement Act. |
December 2012 – Prague councilors approved the categorization of the invoice for Blanka, so we wanted to deal with growing debts. They divided the invoices into three groups according to the severity of the problem; by this summer, Prague had paid out about half a billion crowns to Metrostav. |
September 17, 2013 – There has been information that councilors’ decisions on categorization are being scrutinized by forensic scientists. |
November 20, 2013 – Metrostav announced that On December 7, it will suspend the construction of Blanka, because the municipality already owes him over 2.1 billion crowns. Mayor Tomáš Hudeček (TOP 09) then stated that, according to the city management, the contract with Metrostav was invalid from the beginning, as it was never negotiated by either the council or the council. |
November 29, 2013 – The company Metrostav with the Prague City Hall did not agree on solving the problems associated with the construction of Blanka. The company will take the case to court, where it will want to get the invoice paid out to about 2.1 billion crowns. |
December 5, 2013 – Metrostav filed a petition with the Prague City Hall before the arbitration court. He demands payment of the invoice for 2,155 billion crowns. Prague has already stated in the meantime that has enough funds to complete the entire project. |