The construction of the concert hall in the Imperial Baths will cost 40 million more

Karlovy Vary - The construction of a concert hall within the Imperial Baths building in Karlovy Vary will become more expensive. The sole bid from the contractor was 40 million crowns higher than the region had anticipated. Today, the councilors agreed to increase the costs to a total of 156 million crowns, including VAT. The higher costs mainly stem from rising prices in the construction market, stated the governor of the Karlovy Vary Region, Petr Kulhánek (for STAN), to ČTK.

"We announced a public contract for the construction of a multi-purpose concert hall in the Imperial Baths, where after market consultations, we estimated the cost to be around 116 million crowns, including VAT. Unfortunately, this was at the end of last year. Since then, there has been a sharp increase in the price of building materials, and the bid was 40 million higher. We were faced with the decision of whether to finance an additional 40 million or postpone the construction of the hall. We realized that a later construction would be at least equally financially demanding, and we do not see a horizon for when prices might decrease. At the same time, it would interfere with the already reconstructed building, and the hall will also be one of the commercially used spaces that will help the economy of the operation,” Kulhánek stated.

The opposition today reiterated that the costs for the reconstruction of the Imperial Baths and the construction of the concert hall continue to rise. The reconstruction of the national cultural monument was supposed to cost 828.8 million crowns, according to the contract, and was expected to take 3.5 years, i.e., until 2023. However, some additional work has already been added, and the project was adjusted precisely so that the construction of the concert hall would be technically feasible without significant intervention in the spa building. According to the latest plans, the hall's structure is to be brought inside the Imperial Baths building almost through the open ceiling.

According to Kulhánek, the higher costs reflect the situation in the construction market. However, he pointed out that not all funds for the construction of the concert hall will come from the budget of the Karlovy Vary Region; the project is also registered in the ITI Karlovy Vary grant program, from which the region could obtain up to half of the costs from European funds.