People can submit comments on the Prague Metropolitan Plan

Prague - People can start submitting comments on the proposed Metropolitan Plan from today. They can bring them to the city hall's registry until July 26, as well as to the city hall's detached office at the Institute of Planning and Development (IPR) and its center CAMP on Vyšehradská Street. Anyone can submit comments regardless of their permanent residence, including those from outside Prague. When the city hall, together with IPR, will address the comments will depend on their quantity. The plan is expected to come into preliminary effect at the beginning of 2023 and is one of the documents that determine construction in Prague.

The leadership of IPR recommends using a prepared form to submit comments. "People will have the assurance that the comment is submitted formally correctly," said IPR director Ondřej Boháč.

The city hall will handle the comments as the author of the Metropolitan Plan, together with IPR. At the same time, they will be addressed by a so-called authorized representative, who will be selected by the councilors from among themselves. It is not clear who this will be. It does not necessarily have to be someone directly from the city leadership or a potential councilor responsible for the plan's creation.

In addition to residents, city districts can also submit comments, but in their case, it is formally referred to as substantial comments. Unlike those submitted by residents, the city council decides on these.

There have been disputes surrounding the new plan in the past, which led to the resignation of Petr Hlaváček from the head of IPR and temporarily also the main author of the new plan, Roman Koucký. Ultimately, he returned to lead the team preparing the plan after winning a tender. However, the preparation has been delayed. It was originally supposed to be effective starting in 2020, but lawmakers extended the deadline by three years.