Praha will sign an agreement with builders regarding the new bridge

Prague - The leadership of the capital city wants to resolve the issues with the construction of the new Trojan Bridge by the beginning of this November at the latest. In the coming weeks, a settlement agreement is to be signed with the company Metrostav. After that, the material will be discussed by Prague representatives on November 7. The city is also having expert assessments done on the construction of the bridge, based on which it wants to reach an agreement with the company. This was stated to ČTK by Deputy Mayor Jiří Nouza (TOP 09).
Currently, Prague is having two assessments prepared for the bridge construction. The first assessment deals with the actual construction of the bridge. "It will determine whether what Metrostav built was constructed at a price customary for the time and place," Nouza told ČTK. The city is commissioning this assessment because the original price of the bridge more than doubled during construction.
The second assessment will follow the first. It will evaluate whether the author of the first assessment conducted the preparation correctly. The representatives of Prague will then approach the construction company Metrostav with the first assessment.
Afterwards, the city leadership plans to sign a so-called settlement agreement with the construction company. The original construction price was supposed to be around half a billion, but currently the costs are talked about as high as 1.2 billion crowns. The agreement between Prague and the construction company should be discussed by the city's representatives at their next meeting on November 7. "It is my ambition to resolve it by then," said Nouza.
The city administration raised suspicions several weeks ago regarding a violation of public procurement laws during the construction of the Trojan Bridge, which connects to the Blanka tunnel. This was primarily due to the high price. There have even been reports that Prague might not take over the bridge from the builders at all. However, according to Nouza, that is inconceivable. "It would be hard for us to explain that we do not want the bridge," he said. Additionally, trams will start operating on the bridge in April 2014; the original line ran over the old bridge, known as Rámusák, which ceased operations on Monday.
The construction of the bridge has already attracted the interest of the anti-corruption police in the past due to suspicions of fraud and breach of duty in the management of foreign property, but the case was closed last year. The new Trojan Bridge is not built according to the original terms, and moreover, the order for the actual construction was given in 2009 not by politicians, but by officials.
The approximately 260-meter-long bridge connecting the Holešovice and Troja banks of the Vltava River connects to the under-construction Blanka tunnel complex. Trams are expected to start running on the bridge in the fall. It will open for car traffic next year.