Prague 5 agrees with the possible development at the Nemocnice Motol metro station
On the site of the current greenery next to the former landfill, a campus of the Faculty of Medicine of Charles University, flats or shops could be built next to it. Possible development has been criticized by some opposition representatives.
City councilor Zdeněk Doležal (ODS) stated that the city has been preparing a change in the zoning plan for several years and that the city’s Institute of Planning and Development turned to the city district with a request to prepare a background study. “I consider this change to be beneficial given that it is an area near a metro station, ie with good accessibility,” said the councilor.
The area is located along Kuklova Street, roughly between the metro station and the intersection with Plzeňská. According to the study, there should be a campus with student dormitories in the southern part, along it along the street of shops and further from Kuklova’s apartment buildings.
From the west, the former Motol dump is adjacent to the lands that are now owned by the capital and the city district would like to take over. After reclamation, a forest park should be created on it. However, Prague 5 has been deciding for a long time how to dispose of the landfill. Last year, the deputy mayor of the city district, Lubomír Brož (YES), said that the monitoring had not yet revealed the need for its complete rehabilitation, which would probably cost a billion crowns.
Opposition representative Josef Cuhra (KDU-ČSL) said today that the town hall should first solve the problem of the former landfill. “The correct and logical sequence of our steps should first be to solve the Motol dump,” he said. He added that, according to the opinion of the Department of the Environment, the orchard, where possible construction should intervene, is a valuable habitat. His party colleague Vít Šolle then stated that this was another intention to expand housing construction without ensuring sufficient school capacity.
Land in Motol with an area of approximately 15 hectares was leased for the purpose of landfilling between 2004 and 2014 by the company EkoMotol CZ, directly from Prague 5. Since 2006, the company has paid the town hall 100 CZK per year for rent. According to a study previously commissioned by the town hall, stabilization of the landfill, its compensation and remediation would cost half to 1.5 billion crowns. According to experts, the maximum variant, consisting in the derivation of all the material, could cost up to ten billion crowns.