The government has abolished the territorial reserves for the Danube-Oder-Elbe canal, thus ending the project

Prague/Ostrava/Zlín – The government today abolished the land reserves for the Danube-Odra-Elbe water corridor. This was reported by the government Pirates in a press release, and confirmed by Minister of Transport Martin Kupka to ČTK. The cancellation of land protection for the future canal route effectively means the end of this project, which was advocated by President Miloš Zeman. The governing coalition committed to the cancellation of the canal in its program declaration. Deputy Governor of Moravian-Silesian Region Jakub Unucka and Ostrava Mayor Tomáš Macura told ČTK that they welcome the government’s decision. The Zlín and Olomouc regions also welcome it.

"We have now approved the removal of the land reserve for the entire Danube-Odra-Elbe connection and canceled several related historical government resolutions," wrote Kupka to ČTK. He stated that the current government had not allocated a single crown for the canal's preparation, calling the entire project nonsensical.

At a press conference after the government meeting, Kupka said that the government wants to focus on meaningful projects in water transport. He mentioned building mooring places for small vessels and tourist boats on the Elbe or developing the navigability conditions of the Elbe and Vltava rivers. In light of Polish plans to build the Odra canal, the government, according to Kupka, will develop an economic, transport, and ecological study to determine whether it would make sense to establish a several-kilometer section on the Czech side.

Minister for Regional Development Ivan Bartoš (Pirates) stated that the canal is a dead project following the government’s decision today. "The project is not economically viable and poses a huge risk to the landscape and its ecosystems. It would be a massive waste of public funds and our natural wealth," he stated. He emphasized that the released land could be used for meaningful development of municipalities.

"We very much welcome this decision, which we have been striving for in Ostrava for years. For us, it means unblocking a large area for further possible development of the city, but primarily the removal of serious ecological risks associated with the construction and operation of the canal," stated Ostrava Mayor Macura.

Unucka said that the region had considered the project nonsensical and unnecessary from the start. "However, it is necessary to temper everyone’s enthusiasm that they will start building immediately in that corridor because the state changed the reserve in its state territorial plan, which must be rewritten into the regional principles of spatial development and then into the spatial plan of individual municipalities, which is a process taking about five to seven years," said Unucka.

According to Unucka, the region only supported a minimalist variant of navigating the Odra to Bohumín. "We said that we see it as an alternative to gas imports to the region. If the government has now placed the Stork 2 gas pipeline on the table, then there will be a gas pipeline to Poland, and my opinion is that there is no need to navigate the Odra even to Bohumín," said Unucka.

Zlín Region Deputy Governor Hana Ančincová (Pirates), who is in charge of the environment among other things, welcomed the abolition of land reserves for the Danube-Odra-Elbe water corridor. She described the intention as megalomaniacal, seeing no rational justification for it. "It would significantly change the character of the landscape and threaten existing ecosystems. I think even the planned investment of around 600 billion crowns would not be final. It would be a waste of public funds. There are certainly far better uses for them," Ančincová told ČTK today.

The lands in the planned corridor route have been blocked since 2010 when the government of Jan Fischer implemented its protection. Today’s cabinet decision means that the area will be unblocked. Earlier, municipalities along the canal route had expressed their support for this step, identifying the land reserves as a hindrance to their development.

Today’s government decision does not relate to potential modifications of the Elbe's flow in the section from Pardubice to the state border of the Czech Republic/Germany and the Vltava's flow in the section Mělník-Prague-České Budějovice.

According to a feasibility study prepared by the previous cabinet of Andrej Babiš (ANO), the project was estimated to cost nearly 586 billion crowns. The project, which President Zeman has long advocated, would, according to supporters, provide economic opportunities, help the struggling shipping industry in the Czech Republic, and enable better water management. Environmentalists, on the other hand, argued that the corridor would destroy the remnants of relatively natural ecosystems of Central Europe and have a significant negative impact on the landscape and water regime in the country.