Čunek bought land for a new hospital after the elections

Zlín – The Zlín Region, under the leadership of Jiří Čunek (KDU-ČSL), has purchased land from the church for 42 million crowns in Zlín-Malenovice for the construction of the planned regional hospital. This was done shortly after the regional elections, where the Christian Democrats were narrowly defeated by the ANO movement, which, along with other political entities, criticized the new hospital project. Future leaders of the region, who oppose the construction of the hospital, have labeled Čunek's move as immoral and scandalous, as reported by today's Hospodářské noviny (HN). In a press release today, the Pirates criticized this, who are expected to form a coalition with ANO, ODS, and ČSSD.

"I would have expected the regional council not to be active in this matter any further. During the campaign, we urged them not to sign the contract for the new project documentation. It is far more economically secure for the region to renovate the existing hospital than to build a new one. The information about the advantages of the new hospital presented by the region was false," said ANO leader Radim Holiš, who is expected to be the regional governor.

The Pirates pointed out that the future of the new hospital should have been decided by the newly formed coalition. "At first moment, I was completely shocked to find out that the governor did not wait for the new coalition to decide on the future of the hospital based on expert data. Now we will first have to deal with the problems that Mr. Čunek has left here before we can focus on other matters. Given that the task of the new regional leadership will primarily be to address the situation regarding the coronavirus epidemic, I consider this to be a slap in the face to the forming coalition," said Hana Ančincová, who led the Pirates' candidate list and is expected to be the deputy governor, in a press release to ČTK today.

The region had previously purchased a number of plots from private owners for the new hospital. Čunek told ČTK today that only one small plot from a private owner and a plot owned by the city of Zlín, which has already negotiated with the region, remain. The purchase of the plots was approved by the regional council in November 2018. "Anyone who wants to consolidate the area does it. The plots now have significantly higher value; buying small plots and consolidating them into one always adds value," Čunek said to ČTK, according to whom the construction of the hospital will still take place.

However, according to lawyer Pavel Jiříček from the nonprofit anti-corruption organization Transparency International, Čunek did not have to sign the contract; it could have waited until it was clear whether the new regional leadership would want to continue with the new hospital project. The signed contracts may now complicate the situation if the region does not proceed with the construction.