Pavel Vyhnánek (Prague sebo): The congressman got under my skin
photo: Vít Hassan for PrahaIN.cz/Pavel Vyhnánek
POLITICS IN OWN WORDS Deputy Mayor m of Prague and representatives of Prague 7 for Prague to each other on their Facebook on September 13 to the Prague Congress Center
It wasn’t love at first sight to be honest. But Congressman has gotten under my skin in the four years I’ve been in charge of him for the city. I will always fight for his future, no matter how the election turns out. And that it can’t be done without some skirmishes, you can take poison for that. The congressman is a fat morsel around which a number of vultures circle. Hungry and powerful.
It has a great tread. It is managed by its reliable permit headed by the director Lenka Žlebková and we managed to obtain building permits for its extension according to the design of the OCA studio from Barcelona, which significantly expanded its exhibition capacity and opened its doors to the world. We are already asking for construction companies and we can start building next year. It will be the completion of the process that was started by the successful international architectural competition by former mayor Adriana Krnáčová and which I had the honor to continue.
Congressmen are the key to tourism with high added value and huge income for Prague entrepreneurs. To make matters worse, they saved us in the last two crises when tens of thousands of Prague residents expanded practically overnight, and a year later they accepted tens of thousands of refugees from Ukraine.
In addition to all this, the Congressman is economically self-sufficient and does not need money from the city to run. It is not just a congress building, the company Kongresové centrum Praha also owns a neighboring hotel, a large administrative building and, last but not least, lucrative plots of land. How tempting…
Repeated offers to sell the company from many different parties have always been strictly rejected by me. After all, we will not give up such a lucrative and strategically important property! But the problem remains that the Congress is half owned by the state. He shows little interest in it and would like to get rid of it. At the same time, tax revenues from tourism, which it generates, primarily go to the state coffers!
From my point of view, it is therefore crucial to preserve the existing co-ownership with the state, and above all not to sell the Congressman at any price. It will pay us back richly, as will the investment in its ports. I have had a number of meetings with the Ministry of Finance on this topic, and if nothing else, I will manage a few more in the coming years under the heading of PRAGUE FOR MYSELF!