The Prague city council dismissed the director of IPR, Petr Hlaváček

Prague - Prague councilors today dismissed the director of the Institute of Planning and Development (IPR) Petr Hlaváček. They appointed his deputy Ondřej Boháč as the temporary head of IPR. According to Deputy Mayor Petra Kolínská (SZ/Trojkoalice), the reason for the dismissal was the delay in the preparation of the Metropolitan Plan. A tender for a new director is to be announced by the end of October. Hlaváček had been the director of IPR since February 2015. IPR is a contributory organization of the capital city, responsible, among other things, for urban planning. The opposition TOP 09 described the move as harassment and destructive.

Hlaváček considers the justification for his dismissal to be shocking. "The appointment and dismissal of the director is entirely within the council's jurisdiction. However, I do not understand the reasons. Allegedly, the problems with the preparation of the Metropolitan Plan are behind this. Such justification is shocking; the independent expert group, which the city commissioned itself, concluded that the plan is in accordance with the law and that Prague should continue with its preparation," Hlaváček told ČTK.

Deputy Mayor Kolínská said today that another reason for the departure was the refusal to dismiss architect Roman Koucký, the head of the group preparing the Metropolitan Plan.

However, according to Hlaváček, there was no reason for dismissal. "On the first day of my appointment, I received an instruction from Matěj Stropnický (then Deputy Mayor) to fire Roman Koucký. I assessed that the reason for the request was not shortcomings in the preparation of the plan but the difference between Koucký's political views and those of Stropnický. When Ms. Kolínská made the same request, I assessed that the dismissal would certainly not help in the quicker completion of the plan," Hlaváček stated. His opinion was reportedly supported by the results of the investigation of the municipal commission.

There had been discussions about the possibility of Hlaváček's dismissal for several months. Dissatisfaction with the functioning of the institute was expressed, for example, by Mayor Adriana Krnáčová (ANO).

The majority of IPR employees stood on Hlaváček's side, and a petition against his dismissal was created. He also received support from the Academic Senate of the Faculty of Architecture at ČVUT. Today, architect and chairman of the IPR Gremial Council Martin Rajniš expressed his disagreement with the dismissal. "I consider this step to be very unfortunate. Petr Hlaváček was a guarantee of transparency, professionalism, and a sincere effort for dialogue. I do not understand why Prague is getting rid of competent and trustworthy experts and endangering the functioning of a progressive institution like IPR Prague. I perceive this as a very bad signal for the development of Prague," he stated.

According to Jan Jehlík, head of the urban planning department at the Faculty of Architecture at ČVUT, the dismissal is an incomprehensible and shortsighted step. "I do not understand this step at all. I would like to point out that the work of IPR in recent years has been a qualitative leap compared to the previous approaches of the city toward its development," he stated.

The opposition TOP 09 criticized the council's step. "This is the culmination of the city leadership sabotaging any planning and development of Prague. It is a harassing matter. IPR has been investigated with the aim of finding and questioning anything, and although they found nothing, they dismissed Petr Hlaváček," said Václav Novotný, chairman of the TOP 09 councilors, to ČTK.

IPR was created from the City Development Office under Mayor Tomáš Hudeček (independent, then TOP 09). The institute's task is to prepare a new urban plan and plan the development of the city, among other things. Its annual budget is approximately 300 million crowns.