The building of the Palmovka Center will be completed by Prague, which will take it over
Prague – The Palmovka Center building in Prague 8 will be completed by the municipality, which has taken it over from the eighth part of the city, including the land. The capital also forgave the town hall’s debt by not repaying the grant to complete the building. In exchange for the building and land, Prague 8 will receive a subsidy of 550 million crowns from the city. The change and financial settlement were approved today by Prague’s deputies. According to the agreement, Prague 8 will also pay the construction company Metrostav Alfa approximately CZK 142 million. The building project was approved in 2010, not yet completed.
The deputies today approved a memorandum between the municipality, Prague 8 and the construction company, which will withdraw its lawsuits at the town hall. “It is crucial for the capital to acquire real estate so that it is free of the legal burdens and risks associated with the Nové Palmovka building,” said councilor Jan Chabr (TOP 09).
A few years ago, the city gave the town hall a loan of 300 million crowns for the construction. Since the construction was not completed, the city wanted the money back. But City Hall returned only part of the money. Now the debt of 244.84 million Prague 8 has been forgiven by the municipality. “If the city insisted on repaying the subsidy, we would undoubtedly face the insolvency of the city district, which would have catastrophic consequences for the inhabitants of Prague 8. This is an unprecedented situation that we are currently dealing with, and I hope it will not happen again.” said Deputy Mayor Pavel Vyhnánek (Prague Sobě).
In the years 2022 to 2026, the city district will receive a subsidy of 550 million crowns from the municipality. The money will be used for investments in transport, in greenery, for the construction and reconstruction of sports grounds or for property repairs.
The construction of the building, where the town hall was to have a new headquarters and include commercial premises, was approved by the previous management of the city district in 2010. The costs were estimated at more than a billion at the time. The previous management of Prague 8 stopped the construction and subsequently tried to own it.
At the meeting today, the deputies argued about who was behind the situation. “This building is a monument to the chaos in the management of the ODS and YES. What was wrong with that story? Everything,” said representative Pavel Zelenka (Prague Sobě). Opposition representative Radomír Nepil (YES) rejected the criticism and said that Zelenka did not tell the whole story of Palmovka. “The most contractor signed on this project,” said. According to him, the town hall under the leadership of ANO and the CSSD wanted a list of works from the builder, who did not supply it, and therefore the town hall did not want to pay for the work. The builder subsequently stopped the construction.
In the future, the Palmovka center should be part of the transformation of the entire locality, where new houses were created and the current bus station disappears. The current square of Bohumil Hrabal will also undergo the transformation, greenery, benches and a café will be added. What exactly will be in the building of the Palmovka Center is not yet clear. According to an earlier statement by Deputy Mayor Petr Hlaváček (TOP 09), there should be flats around the building and apartments will be built around the building.