The footbridge over the Elbe in H. Králové will be built by the company SMP CZ for 134 million CZK

Hradec Králové - The footbridge over the Elbe in Hradec Králové will be constructed by the company SMP CZ from the French group Vinci for 133.7 million crowns excluding VAT. As the winner of the already fourth round of bidding, the city council approved the company today. If the company refused to sign the contract, the city would cancel the tender. The construction of the footbridge near the Aldis congress center has been in preparation since 2003, and previous tenders failed due to high costs.

This April, the council approved that in 2021, 117 million crowns should be allocated in the city's budget for the construction. More than half of the construction costs are expected to be covered by a European grant.

The construction of the footbridge is closely linked to the construction of the regional headquarters of Československá obchodní banka, which has been rising in the Aldis area since 2018. The company selected for the footbridge construction will not be able to start at the site until the fall of 2021, when the builders complete work on the ČSOB building.

In the original contract with ČSOB, the city committed to building the footbridge by this April under a penalty of 15 million crowns, which did not happen. However, the city avoided the threat of a fine by agreeing with the bank to extend the deadline by more than three years.

In the last tender, the only interested party offered the footbridge for a price of 142 million crowns excluding VAT. The second tender was canceled also due to high costs, and no one applied for the first tender. The city originally estimated the price for the construction at around 48 million crowns excluding VAT.

A peculiar feature of the proposed footbridge is that it is to be built using an unusual technology of special high-strength concrete.