Čunek will not sign the contract for the hospital project; he will leave it to the new council

Zlín – The councilors of the Zlin Region today adopted a resolution for governor Jiří Čunek (KDU-ČSL) not to conclude a contract with the winner of the public procurement for the designer of the new regional hospital in Zlín-Malenovice. The decision will be made by the new regional representation. However, the region will have to sign the contract even under new leadership; failing to do so would be illegal, Čunek told ČTK today. The inaugural meeting of the regional council will take place on November 10.

The regional councilors selected the consortium "New Hospital - Zlín" as the winner of the procurement, which had two applicants, with a bid price of 351 million crowns excluding VAT. Two weeks ago, Petr Rafaj, chairman of the Office for the Protection of Competition, rejected an appeal concerning the selection process of the designer. The antimonopoly office had previously determined that the competition was valid. This allowed the outgoing governor to sign the competition for the designer. Representatives of the newly forming regional coalition of ANO, Pirates, ODS, and ČSSD, who are against the new hospital, again urged Čunek not to sign the contract. In response, Čunek stated that he would refer the matter to lawyers and wait for their legal opinion; the council discussed it today.

"The lawyers' conclusion was clear; there are three reasons why it is not possible to sign the contract, and none can be applied now. Not signing the contract is illegal," said Čunek. However, according to him, the contract is prepared in such a way that it gives the region a large margin for maneuver, for example, it does not have to require the entire work from the supplier. According to Čunek, due to the coronavirus epidemic, the region also prepared for the possibility that it might not have enough funds. According to Čunek, the council also did not adopt a resolution brought by deputy Jiří Sukop (ANO) today, which aimed to cancel the competition, as the governor stated that this would be illegal.

Radim Holiš, the regional electoral leader of the winning ANO movement, who is expected to become the new governor, welcomed the decision of the regional council not to sign the contract now. "This is in line with what we declared before and after the elections, that we want to pursue a different path. We are ready to fight for the best conditions for the Zlín Region, whether the contract is signed or not," Holiš told ČTK today.

Čunek has long advocated for the new hospital, which the regional council approved by a narrow majority. According to Čunek, the new hospital should cost eight billion crowns. However, there were also representatives of the ANO movement, who were previously in coalition with the People’s Party, against the construction, as well as some representatives of the coalition ODS; on the other hand, some opposition councilors voted for the project.

The new hospital was a main topic in the regional elections, and representatives of the newly formed coalition agreed in their opposition to it. Representatives of ANO, Pirates, ODS, and ČSSD signed a coalition agreement on October 16. The coalition will have 24 out of 45 mandates in the council.

According to opponents of the new hospital, the construction would ultimately cost more than Čunek has indicated. They are also dissatisfied that the region did not have an equally comprehensive study prepared for verifying the cost-effectiveness of the originally planned reconstruction and completion of the current Zlín hospital area.