The stone exhibition center in Letňany will not be open simultaneously with the metro

Prague - The Stone Exhibition Center in Prague-Letňany will not open in 2008 simultaneously with the new section of the Metro C line, as was originally anticipated. Prague city councilors approved a change to the municipal zoning plan for the large development area of Letňany and Kbely last week, but the exhibition grounds were not addressed. For representatives of the companies preparing the construction of the exhibition center, the decision is incomprehensible and unjustifiable.
"I cannot explain the city's approach. If they really want the exhibition center there, they have made a serious mistake," said Miloslava Veselá, director of ABF, to ČTK. She stated that the decision was made unqualifiedly based on erroneous data. ABF is the majority owner of PVA, which is preparing the project. The city of Prague holds a minority stake in PVA.
According to the mayor's deputy Jan Bürgermeister (ODS), PVA is about business. "We want to make the right decision for that area," he told ČTK. The city wants the site to be able to serve for a possible summer Olympics.
The original proposal for the zoning change supposedly included the exhibition center. However, in May the city council agreed to a revised version. There is still a building moratorium on the land where the exhibition center is supposed to be located, meaning nothing can be built there.
According to Veselá, the opening of the first phase of the exhibition center alongside the Letňany metro station will therefore not be completed in time. She estimates that the realistic timeline is 2009. "We can adapt the project to the current situation. I would gladly take Deputy Bürgermeister's word that additional changes to the zoning plan can be requested immediately. We will, of course, have to do that," noted Veselá.
The approved change to the zoning plan raises doubts. The Development Committee of the city council disagreed with the revised proposal. They recommended postponing the final verdict until September. The Letňany city hall even believes that the adoption of the change violated construction law. According to local councilors, the building moratorium was lifted in a different area than the one publicly discussed.
The construction of the Stone Exhibition Center in Prague has been delayed for several years. A long time was spent finding a solution for how the project would be financed. At the end of May, ABF announced that the company SPGroup, headed by entrepreneur Pavel Sehnal, had entered into the project. It reportedly has sufficient capital to build the site. The costs for the first phase are estimated at 2.5 billion crowns.