Prague – Prague and the government are nearing an agreement regarding land exchanges and the next steps in Letňany, where Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) wants to build a complex for state officials. After today's meeting with Mayor Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates), Babiš told reporters that the state would like to sign a memorandum with the city hall by mid-September to resolve the existing disagreements. Apart from the construction in Letňany, land exchanges, or solutions regarding the Vinohrady Hospital and the Bulovka Hospital, it should also include a promise from the state to contribute 60 billion crowns to the city for the completion of the inner ring road. Hřib's statement is being sought by ČTK.
Last year, the Prime Minister proposed to build a complex on the land near the Letňany metro station, then referred to as the "administrative quarter," for thousands of state employees. However, a large portion of the land is owned by Prague, which would have to transfer it to the state. The city leadership, led by Hřib, rejected the plan, with the mayor calling it an "administrative ghetto." According to the city leadership, the parcels should be transformed into a quarter with more functions than just administrative and also include a new hospital. At the same time, Hřib wanted the state to help the city hall with financing the final part of the city ring road, just as it did in Brno. Unlike the outer ring, which is a state investment, the city pays for it.
According to Babiš, it now seems that both sides have come closer to an agreement after prolonged disagreements, which would allow for the preparation of the construction project in Letňany and advance the property exchanges between the state and the city hall.
The Prime Minister also stated that the state would assist the city hall with the purchase of land for a section of the outer ring road between Běchovice and D1. He mentioned that an agreement also exists regarding the completion of the city ring road and its co-financing by the state. "This should be part of the memorandum, that we will provide money for it, around 60 billion," he said. The city is also expected to take over the empty barracks in Karlín from the state, where student dormitories could be created, for example.
According to the Prime Minister, the city leadership has already agreed to the transfer of city land in the Vinohrady Hospital area, where the state wants to build a trauma center. Babiš simultaneously did not rule out the possibility of building a new hospital in Letňany to replace the Bulovka Hospital. "In the meantime, a preliminary agreement was reached that Bulovka would be reconstructed," he said. This also requires a property settlement between the state and the city, as the city hall owns 20 percent of the land and most of the properties in the complex, which it rents to the Ministry of Health.
The memorandum between the government and the city hall has been in the works for some time; according to Babiš, the main parameters of the agreement are settled after today's meeting. "We agreed to create working groups, and I asked the mayor to try to negotiate the main lines of cooperation by September 15," he said. According to him, the priority is the exchange of property in two hospitals, where the state would like to start work as soon as possible.
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