The antitrust office canceled the competition for the reconstruction of the Repre house in Most

Most - The Antimonopoly Office has canceled the public competition for the reconstruction of the Repre cultural house in Most. The city will not appeal the decision and intends to call for a new tender. Mayor Marek Hrvol (ProMOST) stated this today. Most has been promised a grant of 360 million crowns for the repair, with total costs around one billion crowns.

The reason for the cancellation of the selection procedure was discriminatory conditions in the tender documents, said Martin Švanda, spokesman for the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) to ČTK. "Disproportionate reference requirements limited the pool of applicants," he stated. According to him, the decision is not yet final, and the city can appeal.

For the preparation of the tender, Most hired a company that, according to Hrvol, assured the city hall that everything was in order. "The office did not see it that way. One of the companies that did not participate in the process submitted an objection to the office," Hrvol stated. "We will not appeal, it would not benefit us much in terms of time. We will issue a new procedure, in which we will incorporate all comments from the ÚOHS as well as the questions that arose regarding the competition," the mayor stated.

According to Hrvol, the promised grant for the reconstruction is not jeopardized. The delay due to the cancellation of the tender will be about six months. The repair of the building was scheduled for the years 2024 and 2025, and work on the interiors was to start in 2026 according to the schedule. "It is an inconvenience, and we are sorry about it. We have been in a situation for two years where we have the funds for the reconstruction, but legislative processes are preventing us from starting work," he stated. The first public competition was canceled by the city hall due to a high bid price. This time, prices were acceptable according to Hrvol, and he believes it will be the same in the next competition.

The building is currently sealed off. The last town ball was held there in 2019. The Repre cultural house stands in the center of Most on the main Budovatelů avenue, right next to the city hall. The city sold the building in 2010 for 28 million crowns. In 2015, the arbitration court declared the purchase contract invalid and identified Most as the owner. A demolition order had previously been issued for the building. The city library will move into Repre.