Instead of Letňany, the government district could be in Malešice

Prague - A new government district, which Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) is advocating, could be created on the outskirts of the capital in Malešice instead of Letňany. The Prime Minister stated today on Twitter that the director of Czech Post, Roman Knap, offered him the local complex. A visit to the site is planned for mid-November. The Letňany land is owned by the capital city, and it is in dispute with the Prime Minister over the project.

"The director of Czech Post offered me a complex in Malešice as a possible location for the construction of an administrative complex. Great, it's good to consider more alternatives; the goal is to save hundreds of millions," Babiš stated on Twitter. He added that on November 15, he will visit the site with the head of the Office for Representation of the State in Property Matters, Kateřina Arajmu.

According to Babiš, the proposed district of ministerial buildings would help resolve the current inefficient situation where the state pays over 378 million annually to private entities for rentals in the capital.

The City Hall wants to release its lands for Babiš's project only if certain conditions are met, on which the Prime Minister's views diverge from Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates). The city wants the state to complete its outer ring road, contribute to the inner ring road, and build a hospital. In a letter to Hřib in July, Babiš assured him that the state would finance the construction of the outer ring road but prefers a trauma center instead of a hospital. For the inner ring road, he suggested a PPP project, i.e., cooperation with a private investor. However, according to Hřib, the state is not capable of executing PPP projects.

Babiš and the Office for Representation of the State in Property Matters consider Letňany the most suitable option because it can accommodate up to 10,000 employees, and the metropolitan plan allows for the construction of administrative buildings there. The Office of the Government also argues for good transportation accessibility to the terminus of metro line C.

Czech Post offers a 19-hectare area in Malešice for the Prime Minister's utilization, which should transfer its transport hub from Malešice to Kolín, the Novinky.cz server reported. In August, the E15.cz server, based on Knap's statements, wrote that the post office plans to move all its administration in Prague to Malešice. It intends to build the headquarters as part of a new logistics center.

Knap met with Babiš on October 4 to discuss the forthcoming restructuring of the post office. The result of this should be the return to profitability by 2021, as it reported a billion-koruna loss last year. The company is to reduce its workforce from 29,000 by up to 7,000 and introduce new forms of customer service and distribution. In the next three years, the post office is also expecting the sale of redundant assets for approximately 2.7 billion crowns. The revenue from the sale of mainly unnecessary properties is intended for investments in technology.