Metro D has received permission, construction is scheduled to begin in July 2022. Protests may delay it
The Prague Metro D project obtained an invalid building permit for the main building and construction site equipment. Part of the population of Pankrác has already appealed against the permit. The start of construction may be delayed. According to the plan of the capitals, construction should begin next year. The appeal was filed by the Pankrácká společnost association, which has been opposing the construction of the metro for a long time.
“There are two possibilities. We will either agree with Pankrácká společnost and SVJ Kovářovicova or not, and then the Ministry of Transport will solve it. But before the decision is made, the start of construction may of course be delayed,” said Deputy Mayor Adam Scheinherr (Prague himself) .
The municipal specialized building authority issued a non-valid building permit for the main building, ie for the construction of five stations with tunnels, and for the construction site equipment on 30 June. On July 11, the association sent the municipality a so-called area appeal against both decisions, in which they will have to enter specific reasons.
Several things have long been a problem for locals in the project. One of them is the construction of the so-called pilot wall near the future Olbrachtova station, the size of the construction site or the felling of mature greenery. Scheinherr said on Wednesday that in all the objections, the city is trying to meet the needs of the inhabitants. “The construction site will be a third of the original plan and will not be in front of the house. From the original plan, we cut down about a hundred of the 109 trees, and we retreated to the most necessary felling of 33 trees,” Scheinherr said.
According to the information published on the website Pankrác companies but people do not believe in the progress of the city and point out that all controversial entities remain in the project documents. “So we get an old building permit, an old variant that is unacceptable for residents and society,” the statement said. People do not even believe the argument that the city now needs to obtain a building permit as soon as possible and then make the promised changes to the project.
Correspondence between Scheinherr and the residents shows that by 28 July the transport company had entered a change in the project documentation into the files, from which the pilot protection structure and the production shaft had disappeared, and the company also called for a reduction in felling to the 33 trees. According to Scheinherr, the changes will cost about 100 million crowns. “But it’s still better than postponing the construction, so it would be more expensive by several billion,” he added.
The difficulties have accompanied the construction of metro D for a long time. The last time the Ministry of Transport canceled the objections of the municipality’s bias submitted by the Pankrác Society in June this year. At the same time, the Office for the Protection of Competition decided that the transport company could enter into a contract with the winner of the tender for the construction of the first part of the metro. This blocked a preliminary injunction issued against an objection from one of the construction companies. The municipality had problems for many years, we will also see land, especially in Krč. Here he finally agreed with the owners.
In the first phase, a metro will be built between Pankrác and Nové Dvůr and then continue to the Písnice Depot. The section from Pankrác to náměstí Míru must be built in. Where the metro from Náměstí Míru will lead, it has not yet been decided. One of the options was Republic Square, according to the other, the route should go to Žižkov and further to Vysočany. According to this year’s update, the total estimated price is 97.79 billion crowns and the investor is a transport company.
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