The Hradec Králové Region will move into the new headquarters in two months

Hradec Králové - Officials of the Hradec Králové Region will move into the new seat of the regional authority in the area of the Hradec brewery from November 26 to December 7. The completion of the building, for which the region will pay 1.48 billion crowns, is planned for early October. This was said today by regional representatives to journalists. The construction, which began in April of the year before last, is the largest investment project of the region.
The relocation of 350 officials, according to Libor Košťál from the leadership of the regional authority, should minimally affect the functioning of the region. During the relocation, the region will set up a special phone line for the public, where operators will provide up-to-date information on where and when each official can be found. The line should operate at least until the end of February. An information center in the new regional seat will also be in operation from the beginning of December.
To acquire the regional authority’s premises valued at 1.08 billion crowns, the region has entered into a twenty-year lease agreement with Immorent. This year, the region will pay the first installment of 480 million crowns; thereafter, it will pay 50 million crowns annually. The installments will be partially offset by income from rents for commercial spaces, from which the region expects at least 350 million crowns in yield over 20 years.
According to Deputy Governor Rostislav Všetečka, the region will also have the option to shorten the lease or pay a one-time sum. Apart from the lease, the region will self-finance the furnishing of the regional authority with furniture and other items for about 50 million crowns. The actual relocation will cost 300,000 crowns. Transactions associated with the payment for the premises will be carried out by the region through its subsidiary, Property Management of the Hradec Králové Region.
In addition to the regional officials, other regional institutions will also be located in the area, such as the Health Holding and the European Project Center. The building will also have part of the space for the Hradec university, representation of Czechinvest agency, and there will be 468 parking spaces in the new underground garages. In the area, there will also be a restaurant, café, bakery, microbrewery, a branch of ČSOB, and a sausage shop. "Only about five percent of the commercial space is now vacant," said regional councilor Ivan Doležal.
The region is currently housed in a nearly 20-year-old building that used to be the local district committee of the Communist Party, which it renovated for 150 million crowns. However, only just under two-thirds of the employees can fit in the building; the rest work in two other locations in the city.
The existing main headquarters in Wonková Street will be handed over to the Hradec employment office in accordance with a pre-arranged exchange with the state in return for its building and for the former internal and skin clinic on Pospíšilova Street in Hradec. The region will convert the clinic into a long-term care facility and will rent out the employment office building.
The project for the new headquarters has been criticized from the outset by opposition regional representatives from KDU-ČSL. They are concerned that the region will have to cut spending on healthcare, education, and transport because of it. The project has also been criticized by former ODS vice-chairman Miroslav Macek, who called it "a grand kitchen for bureaucrats." Representatives of the regional coalition led by ODS reject the criticism. "The repayment of the premises will not jeopardize the financial health of the regional economy and will in no way limit investments in individual strategic areas of our region," said Governor Pavel Bradík (ODS) today.

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> The construction of the new seat of the Hradec Králové Region will finish in October [June 25, 2007]