The House of Culture Poklad in Ostrava is expected to begin renovations in August

Ostrava - The completion of the House of Culture Poklad in the Ostrava district of Poruba could begin this August. The building, which was under reconstruction, had to be put on hold in 2014, and the city has now selected a contractor to finish the construction. Thirteen companies applied for the tender. The winner of the competition intends to complete the building for nearly 149 million crowns excluding VAT. The project estimated that the completion would cost approximately 241 million crowns, investment deputy Břetislav Riger (Ostravak) said to reporters today.

"We are currently in the phase of signing the contract with the contractor, and we expect that (...) we could hand over the construction site sometime in July. A survey should take place, and we should start building sometime in August this year," Riger stated. The company has 25 days to take over the construction site, and the building should be completed within 60 weeks.

"Since the construction will be managed directly by the House of Culture Poklad, it will have its own technical supervision, and the city, which will provide a grant for this construction to the house of culture, will also have its supervisor, who has been selected," Riger mentioned.

The completion of the cultural house has been problematic from the start. Its original renovation was complicated not only by disputes with one of the former tenants of the building, but also by issues related to the demands for payment of costs for so-called additional work requested by the former contractor of the renovation. The building ultimately had to be put on hold, and a new contractor began to be sought. The modernization of the house of culture has so far cost about 30 million crowns.