In Chrastava, the demolition of the Kovák hostel is being prepared; the city has been striving for it for ten years

Chrastava - In Chrastava, in the Liberec region, preparatory work has begun for the demolition of the dilapidated Kovák hostel at the entrance to the town. The city has been striving for nearly ten years to demolish the building that has not been used for years. A Lidl supermarket will rise on the site of the hostel, which should welcome its first visitors by next year at the latest. The adjacent intersection will also be modified, whether it will feature a roundabout or just traffic lights is not yet decided, Mayor Michael Canov (Mayors for the Liberec Region) told ČTK today.

"The design of the intersection is currently being addressed at the traffic department; we are leaving it to the experts' assessment, but the first option is a roundabout," Canov added. According to him, a roundabout would ensure not only a smooth exit from the Lidl parking lot but also the connection from the city exit from road I/35 from Liberec and also the connections from the parking lots of other stores already present in the intersection.

The Kovák hostel, built in the 1970s, was intended for apprentices of the then Chrastava company Elitex. In the mid-1990s, the building was acquired by Prague entrepreneur Radim Urban and transformed into a hostel. At one point, it accommodated up to 200 people, even though the capacity was not even half of that. Due to unsatisfactory conditions, the building had to be vacated at the beginning of 2010, and it has been empty and deteriorating since then. The owner did intend to convert the building into small apartments. However, the councilors rejected the project, believing that a problematic hostel would form there again.

The town hall has been striving for years to make the dilapidated building disappear, and the first demolition order was issued by city officials in January 2014. According to Canov, there was a risk that the crumbling structure could seriously injure or even kill someone. However, the regional office repeatedly revoked the demolition order. Everything progressed only when Lidl acquired the building and the surrounding land. Due to the planned construction of the supermarket, the city even changed the zoning plan. "I am most looking forward to when the Kovák really starts to physically disappear," Canov added.

However, that will take a while, as the company PB Scom from Hranice in the Přerov region, which is handling the demolition, has time to complete the work until the end of March. According to the demolition manager Roman Tureček, it is necessary to dismantle the windows and doors and also secure the engineering networks before heavy machinery begins work. "In the back part, the roofing cardboard contains asbestos, and hygiene insists that we ensure it with a coating before removal," he told ČTK. However, at temperatures that are currently below freezing, it cannot be used. "We need at least five degrees," Tureček added. Therefore, according to him, heavy machinery will not start work for at least another two weeks.