DPP: Funding for Metro D from the European Investment Bank is not at risk

Prague – The financing of the construction of Metro D with the help of a loan pre-negotiated with the European Investment Bank (EIB) is not at risk. Daniel Šabík, head of the press department of the Prague Public Transit Company (DPP), stated in a press release today. Doubts arose due to criticism of the competition for the construction of the second section of the new line from Olbrachtova to Nové Dvory by the consortium led by the company PORR, which was excluded from the tender by the DPP for failing to meet the tender conditions.

The construction of the new Prague metro line, which will connect Pankrác and Písnice, began last year. The section between the Pankrác and Olbrachtova stations is currently under construction. It is to connect to the section from Olbrachtova to Nové Dvory. The DPP board approved the consortium led by the company Subterra as the winner of the tender for the second part of the construction at the beginning of September, with a proposed price of approximately 30 billion crowns excluding VAT.

Prague can draw a loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for the entire construction of Metro D amounting to approximately 23 billion crowns, and the city councilors approved the conditions last June. However, according to the DPP, no contract for drawing funds has yet been concluded, so there is nothing to suspend. This is a response to statements made by opposition councilor Ondřej Prokop (ANO) in recent days. The estimated cost of the entire line is just over 50 billion crowns.

DPP General Director Petr Witowski again rejected criticism from the consortium of companies PORR, Vinci, and Marti (PVM), which previously described its exclusion as illegal and filed objections against it. "DPP always proceeds in accordance with the law on public procurement, and the same was true in the case of the contract for the second part of Metro D. After all, the correctness of the procedure has always been confirmed by courts and the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS), which are the only arbiters," he stated.

The chairman of the ÚOHS, Petr Mlsna, recently annulled the decision of the ÚOHS that canceled the tender for the section of the metro from Olbrachtova to Nové Dvory due to allegedly discriminatory conditions. The tender process was challenged by the company Metrostav DIZ before the antimonopoly office. The office must now reassess the tender and take into account the legal opinion of its chairman. The construction of Metro D was also addressed by the Supreme Administrative Court, which ruled in favor of the DPP and in August rejected the cassation complaints of the Pankrácká company and a man from Kovařovicova street in Prague 4, who had previously unsuccessfully challenged the building permit at the Municipal Court in Prague.