Liberec was fined for canceling the contract for the repair of the square

Liberec - Liberec received a fine of 100,000 crowns from the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) for canceling the public contract for the revitalization of Soukenné náměstí. The city also has to pay an additional 30,000 crowns for the costs of the proceedings, spokesperson of the magistrate Pavlína Stránská informed ČTK today. The competition for the revitalization of the area in the city center was won by the construction company Syner, and it was confirmed by the then city leadership chaired by ODS just before last year's municipal elections. The post-election city leadership, led by Mayor Jan Korytář (Change for Liberec), canceled the contract in December due to a lack of funds.
     A construction company filed a petition for a review of the city’s procedure with the antitrust office. "ÚOHS found that the condition for canceling the procurement procedure was not met, and therefore, the Statutory City of Liberec should have continued with it," Stránská said. According to her, the city councilors will discuss whether the city will accept the fine or file an appeal against the office’s decision on Tuesday.
     The city announced the competition for the repair of the square twice last year. The first one was canceled because the bid prices seemed excessive to the councilors. They exceeded 20 million crowns. An external company organized the new competition for the magistrate. Ten applicants applied, but the committee excluded five due to formal errors. Of the five companies, Syner offered the lowest price of 17.1 million crowns.
     According to the mayor's deputy for economics Jiří Šolc (Liberec Citizens), the city will still have to carry out the contract at its original amount. "I believe that we will come to an agreement with the construction company to realize the revitalization of the square next year, as there was no provision for it in this year's budget," Šolc said.
     The then mayor Korytář, who led the regional city until April when he was dismissed by the council members, justified the cancellation of the contract by stating that the city did not have money for the square's revitalization in the budget. "I would suggest this course of action even if another company had won the competition," Korytář said last December.
     The reconstruction of Soukenné náměstí was supposed to follow the construction work in the so-called lower center of the city, where in September last year, the company MULTI Development completed the construction of the second phase of the Forum Shopping Center. The project provides for a significant expansion of the pedestrian zone and the creation of conditions for relaxation.