The representatives of Prague 11 again disagreed on the procedure regarding the Ice Sports Arena

Prague - Councilors of the eleventh Prague district did not agree on the next steps for the city hall in the Ice Sports Arena (ALS) project during their meeting, which started on Monday and ended in the early hours of today. This was not the first time the council had discussed the matter. The ALS, which is to include an indoor ice rink and curling tracks, is currently being constructed on city land near the Ke Kateřinkám elementary school by the company AR Delta.

The shareholders are Prague 11 and the company ALS Investors. Both shareholders hold a fifty percent stake in the company. The Prague 11 council approved a resolution in September 2021 regarding the revision of the city district's ownership participation in the project. Today, the councilors once again failed to approve the change of the company's articles and the extension of the construction rights for ALS. The proposals presented by the mayor of Prague 11, Jiří Dohnal (Pirates), did not receive sufficient support from the present councilors.

Political entities in the leadership of Prague 11 proposed selling the shares that the city district holds in the company AR Delta. According to the proposal, the shares were to be sold for a price determined based on an expert assessment, but for no less than 40 million crowns. The second shareholder, the company ALS Investors, has the preemptive right to purchase the shares from the city district. This entity is backed by Tomáš Kučera and, since last year, also by the investment group Kaprain founded by Karel Pražák.

Today, the proposal to sell the shares was supported by a majority of councilors from the ruling parties, namely Pirates, ANO, TOP 09, STAN, and ODS. To pass the proposal, 23 votes were needed; 21 councilors voted in favor out of 31 present. The proposal was not supported by councilors from the opposition Movement for Prague 11 (HPP11). They have long been critics of the management's approach to the project and label the spending of public money in the project as non-transparent.

Prague 11 has been a shareholder in AR Delta since 2020. The city hall provided the company with land for construction, purchased shares in AR Delta for five million crowns through a subsidy from the Prague magistrate, and increased its capital in the company with another 35 million crowns, which the city hall received from Prague as an interest-free loan.

The chairman of the board of AR Delta, Petr Přenosil, previously stated that PPF Bank does not allow the company to draw the approved loan due to non-compliance with conditions. Without access to the loan, AR Delta, according to Přenosil, is unable to finance construction and the company is at risk of insolvency.

The construction of the Ice Sports Arena has been in preparation for several years. A private investor began preparations in 2014. Construction work began in early 2019, with an estimate that the construction would cost around 120 million and be completed by mid-2020. Last year, representatives of AR Delta told ČTK that the sports facility should be completed this year and would cost 194 million crowns. So far, about 60 million crowns have been spent on the construction, Přenosil added in January.

In the South City, the Pirates, ANO, ODS, TOP 09, and STAN govern. There have been disputes among the coalition partners in South City since spring 2021, and some political entities subsequently stated that they no longer felt bound by the coalition agreement. The city district, which has a population of 77,600 residents, includes the cadastral areas of Chodov and Háje.