The leadership of Prague wants to negotiate with the state about the future of the Prague Congress Center

Prague - The city leadership wants to negotiate with the state about the future of the Congress Center Prague (KCP) in the Prague district of Nusle. The discussions should especially focus on the expansion of the center and a possible change in ownership structure. In an interview with ČTK today, Deputy Mayor Jiří Pospíšil (TOP 09) stated this. According to him, the city hall also wants the KCP management to provide an analysis of the impacts of expanding the building. Since 2014, the state, through the Ministry of Finance, has been the majority owner of KCP. The capital city, which originally owned the entire center, holds 45.65 percent of the shares. The joint-stock company KCP was established on July 1, 1995.

"It will be necessary to negotiate with the Minister of Finance (Zbyněk Stanjura, ODS) or his deputies, to discuss whether we will address ownership shares in any way. According to my information, the state wants to divest itself of its share," Pospíšil said. Although the state has a larger share in the company, its voting rights are limited.

According to Pospíšil, discussions are necessary in connection with the planned extension and expansion of the center. It is essential for Prague to either acquire the state's share and initiate the mentioned expansion or for the ministry to agree to it, Pospíšil said. If the state wishes to divest itself of the share, it is likely that the city would not purchase it but exchange it, he stated.

He discussed with KCP's General Director Lenka Žlebková about preparing an analysis on how the expansion would affect KCP's operations, including its finances and the number of congresses, as KCP has to reject some events due to limited capacity. "When the director tells me that she is able to sustain KCP, that part of the funds for the reconstruction of KCP will be generated, and that she sees the potential for utilizing the spaces we will add, I have no reason not to believe her. However, I want political consensus on this; if not, I will not push it," Pospíšil said.

At this point, it is not possible to say when exactly the future of the center will be decided, according to the deputy. The discussion will also seek consensus within the city hall coalition Spolu (ODS, TOP 09, and KDU-ČSL), the Pirates, and STAN. This needs to be resolved as soon as possible, especially due to rising prices and inflation, Pospíšil added.

Expansion of the center has been discussed for many years; in the past, an architectural competition was held, which was won by the Spanish office OCA. The architects proposed a new elongated building to the south of the current structure, intended for accompanying exhibitions of individual congresses. The main exhibition hall is to have a variable interior space that can be adjusted according to the needs of individual exhibitions.

In 2021, KCP reported revenues of 281 million crowns, an increase of 11 percent year-on-year. Due to the restrictions on the center's operations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the financial results ended with a loss of 23.1 million, which is 79.6 percent lower than in 2020.