Babiš wants to return to the project of building a government district in Prague's Letňany

Prague – Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) wants to revive the project of building a government district, which he intended to construct in the Letňany area of Prague. It will depend on negotiations about the land with the city hall, he stated today on social media. The former leadership of Prague resisted Babiš's project during his previous government, starting to prepare a proposal for a new district in Letňany with apartments, administration, and land reserved for a hospital.

"I want to return to the project that I once conceived when I was with (French President Emmanuel) Macron in 2015, and that is the government district in Letňany," Babiš said. "We will see how we fare in negotiations regarding the land with the city hall," he added.

Babiš defended the construction of the government complex in a video by stating that there is no reason for the ministries of culture, education, or regional development to be housed in historic palaces. "Why is the Nostický Palace the seat of the Ministry of Culture? The minister is sitting in some noble's bedroom. Why isn't it a museum?" noted the Prime Minister.

During the previous electoral term, Babiš urged the leadership of the Prague city hall to transfer the city land near the metro station in Letňany to the state for the purpose of building a complex for thousands of state officials. The city resisted this; the then-mayor Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates) rejected the idea of an "official ghetto" and conditioned the transfer of the land to the state on, for instance, financial contributions for the completion of the city ring road. Besides Letňany, land in Holešovice and Malešice was also in play.

Among other construction plans, the Prime Minister today mentioned the promised speed skating hall, which he said could be in Žďár nad Sázavou. "I have a study of 115 pages," he said, adding that he would discuss the matter with Interior Minister Lubomír Metnar (ANO) and announce a competition for the construction project.

Babiš also stated that the planned new Prague hospital is to be located in the area of the Faculty Hospital of Královské Vinohrady. "We will build the metropolitan new hospital at Královské Vinohrady hospital; we are, of course, working on that, I personally oversee it," Babiš said. The government's commissioner and Deputy Minister of Health Pavel Scholz stated last month that the location of the hospital, with a capacity of up to 1300 beds, would be decided by Babiš and the government among four locations. At that time, the Prime Minister recommended in a letter to Minister of Health Adam Vojtěch (ANO) to focus on Vinohrady.

According to Babiš, other construction plans include building an apartment building for a hundred healthcare staff in the area of the Faculty Thomayer Hospital in Prague. Minister Vojtěch announced last month that the hospital would construct a new emergency room building by 2029 for two billion crowns.