The reconstruction of the freight station Žižkov would cost 5 billion.

Prague - If the building of the Žižkov freight station becomes a cultural monument, its necessary reconstruction and land remediation will cost at least five to eight billion crowns. This was agreed upon by the participants of today's meeting at the Prague 3 city hall, which included the leadership of the city district, architects, and the investor, as well as the Minister of Transport Pavel Dobeš (VV) and the Minister of Culture Alena Hanáková (STAN). She is the one who should decide on the declaration of the building as a monument, and thus on its future in the near future.
     According to the city hall leadership, all parties involved agreed that it is essential to resolve the future of the dilapidated site as soon as possible. "From the perspective of the city district, it is important that the land does not remain idle and does not pose a security risk to residents," said Prague 3 spokesman Jan Sotona to ČTK, adding that further steps will be addressed only after the minister issues a final decision.
     The owner of the station building from the 1930s and the adjacent land is the Žižkov Station Development company, a consortium of Czech Railways and Sekyra Group. The investor planned to build a new quarter for up to 15,000 residents on the site. However, their plan was opposed by heritage protectors and part of the public, who do not like that the station building should give way to a new road - the Jarov Connection.
     "Traffic should adapt to the city, not the city to traffic. There is no need to demolish for traffic here; the problem is who will pay for the possible reconstruction," believes the city's expert advisor and architect Ivan Vavřík. According to him, the reconstruction of the station, including land remediation, would require an investment of at least five to eight billion crowns. "In comparable cases in Europe, where the stations were comprehensively renovated, this amount even ranges in the tens of billions," adds Sotona.
     The Žižkov station was already declared a cultural monument for the second time at the end of February. Against this decision, the Žižkov Station Development company appealed, and the whole matter thus returned to the Ministry of Culture. Minister Hanáková has so far refused to speculate on how she will ultimately decide. However, she said the verdict could be reached within a few weeks.
     The building had once been declared a monument, but after the owner appealed, the then Minister of Culture Jiří Besser overturned the decision and returned the case to his heritage protectors for review. Even then, however, the heritage protectors agreed that the main building is an exceptionally high-quality example of functionalist architecture.