Hradec Králové will announce a fourth tender for the construction of a footbridge over the Elbe

Hradec Králové – Hradec Králové will announce the fourth competition for the construction of a footbridge across the Elbe in the Aldis area. The city would like to use an increased grant from the European ITI program for the Hradec-Pardubice agglomeration for the construction. Today, Deputy Mayor Věra Pourová (ANO) informed journalists about this. The city has been preparing the footbridge construction since 2003. The last tender was canceled due to the high price.

The city originally estimated the construction cost at around 48 million crowns without VAT, most of which was to be covered by grants. However, the only bidder in last year's third tender offered a price of 142 million crowns excluding tax. In the second competition, there was also only one bidder, who offered a price of 122 million crowns. No one applied for the first tender.

"If the construction could be largely covered by grants, we will try to compete one more time," Pourová said. According to her, the fourth competition should be announced in the spring so that construction could begin in the summer. Initially, the city considered abandoning the current project and looking for a cheaper variant of the footbridge. A special feature of the proposed footbridge is that it is to be built using a special high-strength concrete technology.

The footbridge is intended to connect the Aldis area, where Československá obchodní banka (ČSOB) is building its regional headquarters, with the center of Hradec. Due to the delay in the construction of the footbridge, the city faces a penalty of 15.2 million crowns. The reason is that it committed to the construction in a contract with ČSOB. The contract specifies that if the city fails to complete the footbridge by April 2020, it must return a third of 45.6 million crowns to the bank, for which in the past it sold land to the bank for the construction of its headquarters. The city is still negotiating with the bank to resolve this issue.

In the past, nature conservationists had objections to the footbridge project. The original project included the felling of an oak tree on the embankment, which nature conservationists successfully protested against. Delays and disputes also accompanied the architectural competition. Ornithologists raised concerns about the design of the footbridge because the proposed footbridge could interfere with the flight paths of birds, especially swans. The project was modified due to the ecologists' comments.