Jihlava will check a location for a possible construction of a new ice rink

Jihlava - Jihlava will allocate 900,000 crowns for the verification of the site near the road to Pelhřimov for the proposed multifunctional sports arena. This decision was made today by the city councilors. However, the city has not yet decided on the construction, which is estimated to cost around 750 million crowns, and it does not have the funds for it. According to Mayor Rudolf Chloupek (CSSD), this year’s advancement of Jihlava's Dukla to the hockey extraliga has somewhat complicated another possible option for improving the city's hockey facilities, which is the reconstruction of the outdated Horácký winter stadium in the center.

"Because there is no winter stadium in the Czech Republic where Dukla Jihlava could play the extraliga," said the mayor. Therefore, he stated that the city hall is considering how to enable Dukla to play and how a new hall could be built in the city. The land towards Pelhřimov is important according to Chloupek and it will be good to verify it, even if a sports hall does not arise there.

Towards Pelhřimov, the city will investigate the possibility of building a hall next to the planned shopping center Aventin. According to Deputy Mayor Radek Popelka (ANO), the backup area for the sports hall is in Handlové Dvory on another edge of Jihlava.

City councilor David Beke from the opposition ODS considers such extensive surveys unnecessary if a decision on the construction of the hall has not been made. According to him, a preliminary analysis with costs up to 100,000 crowns would suffice at this point.

His party colleague Vladimír Hink suggested transferring the aforementioned 900,000 crowns to the city reserve and using them for potential repairs and maintenance of the old stadium. "Most of us probably suspect that we will unfortunately not be able to build a new winter stadium due to financial costs, and especially operational ones, being so high that a city with a population of 50,000 cannot afford it," he said.

However, according to the mayor, Jihlava should be prepared in case it becomes possible to apply for subsidies for the sports hall. He noted that certain promises have already been made by the region and the government. "However, these are only promises for now," he said.

For the release of 900,000 crowns for the site survey towards Pelhřimov, 24 councilors raised their hands after an hour-long debate. Five members of the council opposed it, and the same number abstained from voting. The necessary adjustments for the extraliga have already been paid for by the city at the Horácký winter stadium this year.