Czech pavilion for Expo is already up, money from the last Expo is being resolved

The last screw on the steel structure of the Czech pavilion was tightened by Alena Šeredová.

Prague - The Czech Republic has completed the rough construction of its pavilion for the World Expo 2015 in Milan first, and preparations for the Czech participation are proceeding as planned. This is stated in a report on the state of preparations that the government will discuss on Monday, said Jiří F. Potužník, the general commissioner of the Czech participation. Besides difficulties with the Italian organizers, who have not yet brought water and electricity to the exhibition site, the Czech Republic, according to him, only needs to resolve the way to invest the savings from the last Expo in Shanghai, which are part of the budget.
    "The only issue to be resolved is the nature of the money from Shanghai. They are in a fund, which makes it more complicated to invest than we had anticipated," Potužník said regarding the conclusions of the report. "There will be a task for the Ministry of Finance to come up with a process, along with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," he added.
    The reserves after the Expo in the Chinese metropolis in 2010 amount to 70 million crowns and constitute a significant part of the budget for participation in the Milan exhibition next year. According to the government's decision, the budget is set to reach 180 to 260 million crowns, of which the state will contribute 60 million from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs budget. The rest has been obtained by the general commissioner from private or public entities. He claims that by the end of this year he will have a total of over 200 million crowns available.
    The Czech Republic began constructing the pavilion in mid-August, and according to Potužník, it was the first participant to complete its rough construction. "Now the interior is being worked on, and by the end of the year, the construction should be ready," Potužník described the state of the pavilion made of modular components. In January, the construction company is expected to hand over the building to the Czech Republic for use, after which the installation of exhibitions will begin.
    "We would like to start trial operations on April 1 and have April to sort out all the details," Potužník stated. Expo 2015 will open to visitors on May 1 next year and will last for the following six months.
    However, its preparation is plagued by difficulties caused by weather whims and corruption scandals, for which the police are already investigating around a dozen people associated with the organization of the world exhibition. According to Potužník, the organizers have not yet managed to bring water or electricity to the site. "We have our own generator and are bringing our own water," he described.
    While these provisional conditions did not pose a serious problem for assembling the Czech pavilion, according to Potužník, they are a fundamental obstacle for other countries that are building their booths out of concrete. "Some countries have already said that under these conditions they cannot build," said the general commissioner. According to him, the organizers have committed to bringing water and electricity to the exhibition site by mid-November and assure that they will make up for the delays in preparations.