Hradec Králové has canceled the third tender for the bridge over the Elbe

Hradec Králové - The representatives of Hradec Králové today canceled the third competition for the construction of a footbridge across the Elbe in the Aldis locality. The city estimated the construction cost to be around 48 million crowns excluding VAT, but the only interested party offered to build the footbridge for 142 million crowns without including tax. In the second competition, there was also only one interested party that offered a price of 122 million crowns. No one applied for the first tender. The city hall has been preparing the construction of the footbridge since 2003.

Compared to the previous two competitions, the tender conditions for the third competition were milder. There was no requirement for the contractor to be able to work with the technology of special high-strength concrete, from which the footbridge is to be made.

City hall representatives recently stated that the city will continue to strive for the construction of the footbridge. According to the Deputy Mayor for Investments Jiří Bláha (ODS), the city hall should have a realistic price calculation prepared in relation to current prices and possibly choose a cheaper variant of the footbridge. "If the cost calculation indicates that the reality of this constructed footbridge is indeed at the level of 120 to 140 million crowns, then I would postpone the matter and move on to something that has a lower real value," said Bláha.

The footbridge is intended to connect the Aldis locality, where Československá obchodní banka (ČSOB) has been building its regional headquarters since last year, with the center of Hradec. The city faces a penalty of 15.2 million crowns due to delays. This is because it committed to the construction of the footbridge in a contract with ČSOB. The contract states that if the city fails to complete the footbridge by April 2020, it must return one-third of the 45.6 million crowns for which it previously sold land to the bank for its headquarters construction. The city is therefore negotiating with the bank to resolve the issue, for example, by extending the deadline through an addendum to the contract.

In the past, environmentalists had reservations about the footbridge project. The original project involved the felling of one oak tree on the riverbank, which environmentalists successfully protested against. Delays and disputes also accompanied the architectural competition. Ornithologists raised concerns about the design of the footbridge, as the proposed footbridge could interfere with the flight paths of birds, especially swans. The project was modified due to the comments from ecologists.