The ending Prague coalition builds metro D, tram lines, footbridges and repairs apartments
Leaders of the Prague coalition. From the left, Zdeněk Hřib, Jan Čižinský and Jiří Pospíšil. Photo: archive
In recent years, the ending Prague coalition of Pirates, Prague Sobě and the United Forces for Prague (TOP 09 and STAN) started the construction of metro D and tram lines, built a footbridge to Troja and started building a footbridge from Karlín to Holešovice and is preparing to build the Dvorecký bridge. Prague’s indebtedness decreased. The opposition ODS and ANO describe the city management as amateurish and chaotic. Among other things, they blame the coalition for making life more expensive for the citizens of Prague, when some services became more expensive, according to them, traffic is poorly managed and they also criticize the filling of some positions in city companies without tendering.
“In the leadership of the metropolis, we have faced two unprecedented crises of unprecedented proportions in the last four years. From the covid to the current invasion of the uninvited Russian dictator into Ukraine, which is why refugees, or refugees with children, are flocking to us,” said Mayor Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates).
This year, the city management also had to deal with the Dosimeter case of former deputy mayor Petr Hlubuček (STAN) regarding the transport company (DPP).
According to Hřiba, the coalition succeeded, for example, in housing. “It was possible to end the privatization of city apartments and, on the contrary, put the city housing stock that had been neglected for years in order. Since 2019, more than 1,100 city apartments have been repaired,” he said. According to him, Prague also acquired land for new urban construction and opened the way for the development of so-called brownfields.
He also considers the progress of the city in transport to be a success of the mayor. “Massive investments are being made in the necessary transport projects. We have started the construction of metro D, new tram lines are being built, we are opening a record number of P+R parking lots, the Trojská lávka is being restored, the Štvanická lávka is being built and in a few weeks we are building the Dvorecký bridge,” Hřib mentioned. The city is now building an extension of the tram lines from Barrandov to From Slivence and from Modřany to Libuš.
The right is a frequent target of opposition criticism. “Everyone remembers what we experienced last summer. Instead of coordinating closures and repairs, they painted senseless cycle lanes all over the city,” said Ondřej Prokop, chairman of ANO representatives.
“The only major transport reconstruction, the repair of the Barrandovský bridge, was delayed by a full 27 days in two and a half months,” said the leader of the Spolu coalition (ODS and TOP 09) and former mayor Svoboda. Deputy mayor for transport Adam Schenherr (Prague Sobě) has long rejected criticism ..
According to ANO and ODS, transparency is also not managed. “They appointed directors of city companies without a competitive process. What they were really good at was handing out tobacco,” said Prokop.
Svoboda again recalled Hlubuček’s case. He stated that “the flagship of this coalition, transparency, was left with only an aftertaste after the corruption case in the DPP”. Hlubuček ended up as deputy mayor and mayor of Lysolaj.
However, according to the mayor, the current coalition has, on the contrary, improved the transparency of the functioning of the metropolis. “We published the clickable budget and invoices in the CityVizor application, on the golemio.cz website we publish data about contracts far beyond the scope of the law. We have reduced the financial thresholds from which municipality public contracts are publicly contested. That is why the Dosimeter case does not affect the orders of the municipality, but only the DPP,” said Hřib.
The last municipal elections in 2018 were won by ODS, which won 14 representative seats. The Pirates, Praha Sobě and the United Forces for Prague (TOP 09, STAN, KDU-ČSL) won 13 each.
ANO won 12 mandates from the elections. After the elections, the Pirates, Praha Sobě and the United Forces agreed on a coalition, while the victorious ODS and ANO ended up in the opposition.