H. Králové will announce the third tender for the football stadium for 740 million CZK

Hradec Králové – The representatives of Hradec Králové today approved the announcement of the third competition for a company to build a football stadium. The maximum price was set at 740 million crowns including VAT. The city would like to officially announce the tender in July, and construction could begin next year. The stadium, which has been in preparation for more than 15 years, is to be built on the site of an inadequate and half-ruined multi-sport stadium from 1960. The construction will be the largest investment by the city in recent years. The stadium will house the second-league club FC Hradec Králové, which will have to play elsewhere during the reconstruction.

Opposition representative Aleš Dohnal (Pirates) expressed doubts about the project. "In six months, it will fall under the table. No one will apply (at this price). We won't be able to manage a project auctioned based on price," he said. According to Pavlína Springerová from the opposition Hradec Democratic Club, the city lost eight months by canceling the second tender, and the stadium will not be cheaper or faster than originally planned. Representative Jiří Langer (ANO) countered that the coalition is trying to prevent the city from incurring losses.

Last year, the city announced two tenders for the stadium, but canceled both. After canceling the last tender last November, the new city leadership formed by the coalition of ANO, ODS, and Změny pro Hradec commissioned two assessments to evaluate the project, construction costs, and reassess the supporting structure. The assessments, according to the Deputy Mayor for Investments Jiří Bláha (ODS), revealed underestimation of the financial aspect and serious deficiencies in the documentation. The designer subsequently revised the documentation as part of a complaint.

Compared to previous plans, the city expects to build the stadium all at once, not in phases. According to Bláha, this will be cheaper. The city would like to select the construction company by the end of this year so that construction can begin in spring 2020. For the footballers, this means that they will play elsewhere for the entire year of 2020 and spring 2021. Bláha believes the club could play, for example, at the Hradec field Bavlna, in Chrudim, or Pardubice.

Today, the representatives also approved the allocation of 740 million crowns in the city budget and budget outlook for the construction of the stadium. The last tender for two stands and the pitch had a set price of about 480 million. The price of 740 million crowns, including VAT, covers the entire stadium with four stands and a pitch, and it includes approximately a seventy million increase due to the rise in construction costs in recent years.

According to the Deputy Mayor for Economics Monika Štayrová (ANO), the city will pay for the stadium from its own resources and does not intend to take out a loan. According to her, the city will try to obtain a grant from the state for the construction.

The stadium is expected to accommodate 10,000 spectators. Its typical lighting with four so-called "lollipops" will also be preserved, although in a modernized form. In autumn 2017, the city had the western stand demolished, leaving only an earthen embankment. From the current stadium, only the eastern stand structure will remain, which will serve as a facility for training fields.