The construction of the library in Ostrava is to be 400 million cheaper

Ostrava - The construction of the new Moravian-Silesian Scientific Library in Ostrava is set to be 400 million crowns cheaper. Compared to the original expectations, which estimated costs at 1.5 billion, it is now expected to cost 1.1 billion. Construction is scheduled to start under a new timetable in June next year. It is expected to be completed in two years, in June 2013. The Moravian-Silesian representatives decided on funding changes for the construction at their meeting today.
    Construction is planned according to the original project of the so-called black cube, which will be modified. The library's spaces will also be utilized by the Vysoká škola báňská-Technická univerzita for language training.
    The new financial plan anticipates that the Moravian-Silesian Region will spend 606 million crowns from its budget for the construction, and the state will pay 490 million crowns through the ISPROFIN fund. The modification of the original project is expected to cost 10 million crowns. Current authors are supposed to ensure its changes. According to the architectural design by Ladislav Kuba and Tomáš Pilař, the library is to take the form of a black glass cube. Changes in the project documentation will include changes in materials for some elements, removal of a water feature, and cancellation of the observation platform. The region will submit the change in investment intent to the Ministry of Culture, which decides on the allocation of funds from the ISPROFIN fund.
    The region also decided to newly resolve the construction of an adjacent parking facility near the library. It intends to build it through a PPP model, that is, a collaboration between the public and private sectors. Private investors are to compete for the construction of the parking lot. The parking facility was originally expected to cost 300 million crowns.
    According to the Governor of the Moravian-Silesian Region Jaroslav Palas (ČSSD), the original project of 1.5 billion was megalomaniacal. "There was unnecessary luxury in some floors. The project now also accounts for using the library for language instruction on two floors," said Palas.
    The construction of the library has become the subject of a dispute between the current leadership of the region from the ČSSD and KSČM and the former leadership formed by representatives of ODS and KDU-ČSL. Ultimately, even the opposition ODS voted for the adjustment of the financing and preparation of the entire project at today’s meeting. Nevertheless, according to the head of the Moravian-Silesian ODS Zbyněk Stanjura, the region will have to spend hundreds of millions more, as it will not be possible to use European funds. The region had originally been promised 600 million crowns for the library from European funds, but wants to use the money in education and healthcare.
    "Currently, the socialists and communists are proposing an increase in the region's share by half a billion crowns, which is very disadvantageous for our region. Nevertheless, we welcomed that the project prepared by the former leadership of the region will be realized," Stanjura noted. Moreover, in the budgeted 1.1 billion, according to him, the costs for the construction of the parking facility are not included.
    In Ostrava, last June a petition was created in support of the original project of the library, the shape of which emerged from an architectural competition. The current scientific library has been located in inadequate premises since its establishment in 1951, and the start of construction of the new one has been postponed several times, among other reasons due to funding issues. The library has over one million titles and is one of the largest in the country. It is visited by an average of 1000 people daily.