The winner of the competition for the hospital project in Zlín will be announced in a few weeks

Zlín - The winner of the competition for the design of the new regional hospital in Zlín-Malenovice should be known within a few weeks. Jiří Čunek (KDU-ČSL), the regional governor, said this to ČTK today. The councilors today again approved the construction of the hospital, which, according to the governor, should cost eight billion crowns. Two companies have applied to the competition, and according to the councilors, the project should cost around 350 million crowns.

"The company should be selected within a few weeks. Due to the epidemic, the participants could not obtain some documents that they needed from state offices, so we gave them time, all the same, and no one was discriminated against," the governor stated. Earlier, the governor mentioned that two Czech entities had applied, one of which has ties to the Swedish kingdom. The head of the regional investment department, Libor Pecháček, stated at the council meeting that it is an association of several companies, with one foreign participant in the consortium.

Opposition councilor Michal Dvouletý (Independent) called for the halt of the selection process for the designer of the new hospital. According to him, the region provided only a volume study of the new hospital to the potential designers during the selection process, yet the governor presented a significantly more developed spatial study of the new hospital, the preparation of which is also part of the selection process for the designer. "In other words, the person who prepared the tender documents for the region has access to more completed work, which moreover, in the event that they themselves apply for the selection process, will be paid for twice," Dvouletý stated.

The pre-project preparation was carried out by the company smart healthcare solutions with managing director Martin Šamaj. "It is precisely Martin Šamaj and the people around him who are the main authors of the documents for the new hospital. It is therefore logical that it was Martin Šamaj who played a key role in drafting the tender documentation for the selection of the designer. So why didn't he provide the potential applicants with the developed spatial study as well?" Dvouletý stated. According to Pecháček, Šamaj only developed the technical documents that were part of the tender documentation, which, however, was prepared by someone else. "When someone prepares the documents, they are not disqualified from applying," Čunek stated.

Dvouletý also mentioned that the complaint regarding the tender conditions in the award process for the contract is being addressed by the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) at the request of the company JIKA-CZ from Hradec Králové. Čunek confirmed the information. "ÚHOS is dealing with it, no conditions have been set, we are continuing," Čunek stated.

The construction of the hospital is theoretically possible in phases; in the first phase, necessary operations could be created, and in later phases, for example, a parking garage or rehabilitation facilities. "The project of the construction allows for phasing, but I do not count on it," the governor stated, according to whom it is more beneficial to build the entire hospital and move everything in one go. The construction of the hospital today received the narrowest possible support from the councilors, and the initiative "Save the Baťovka" also aims to ensure that a referendum on the construction of the new hospital is held alongside the regional elections in the autumn.