The Defense offers additional bunkers or land in Prague and Brno

Prague – Land in Prague and Brno, as well as bunkers from the pre-war fortifications, can be purchased by people from the Ministry of Defense. The office is offering them in another round of the bidding process for its unneeded property. Jana Zechmeisterová from the press department of the ministry informed ČTK of this today in a press release. Details can be found on the website of the department for managing unneeded property of the Ministry of Defense.

The Ministry is asking for a total of 60.5 million crowns for 37 properties. Half of the amount comprises about 1.2 hectares of land in Hloubětín, Prague, which is separated from the military airport Kbely by Novopacká Street and is near a gardening colony. The ministry is also offering other plots in Prague Řepích, in Brno's Královo Pole, or near Netvořice in the district of Prague-East.

For sale, the office has also designated several objects of light border fortifications, the so-called řopíky. People can choose one in southern Moravia in the Sedlec area near Mikulov or from 14 others in cadastral areas between Bohumín and Karviná, near Staré Město pod Králickým Sněžníkem or in Opava. According to Zechmeisterová, the local řopíky stand on foreign lands, whose owners have preemptive rights to the objects, but they have not expressed interest in the transfer of the object.

The Ministry is repeatedly getting rid of unneeded properties. The offers primarily consist of land or bunkers from the period of the First Republic. The former fortifications of Czechoslovakia are still considered properties designated for the defense of the state, so the Ministry of Defense is responsible for managing them. In 2005, the ministry decided that the fortifications would be primarily transferred free of charge to the owners of the land underneath them. If there is no interest in them, they could be given for free to military history clubs or surrounding municipalities. Another option is their sale.

At the end of October, the ministry informed ČTK that it had sold 171 objects of Czechoslovak pre-war light fortifications so far, and a similar number of řopíky is planned to be offered for sale. The state has transferred around 1600 bunkers free of charge to other state organizations or military history associations. Out of 4993 objects of the former light fortifications recorded by the Ministry of Defense, 1767 have been property settled so far. In total, the Ministry plans to resolve over 800 řopíky, offering a quarter of them for sale while wanting to transfer the rest to new owners. The ministry is now only transferring or selling bunkers declared as unneeded property before March 2016. Other řopíky, which are gradually being surveyed, are taken over by the Office for Representation of the State in Property Affairs. They are offered for sale on their website.