The company is seeking 373 million crowns in a lawsuit for the preparation of metro line D

Prague - The company Engineering of Transport Structures is suing the Prague Public Transit Company (DPP) for 373 million crowns for the preparation of the construction of metro line D. It is also demanding 20 million for work on the construction through a pre-litigation warning, reported the iDNES.cz website today. Engineering of Transport Structures threatens that if DPP does not promptly pay the 20 million, the company will withdraw from the contract, which, according to Engineering of Transport Structures, would necessitate stopping the construction of the metro. The company provides technical supervision on the construction. The mayor's deputy Adam Scheinherr (Praha Sobě) stated that the company is trying to blackmail the city into obtaining more money than it is entitled to, also claiming that this is part of an election campaign. For technical supervision, he has ensured a replacement in case Engineering of Transport Structures withdraws, and thus the construction is not at risk. The contract from 2010 is also disadvantageous for DPP, added Scheinherr.

The lawsuit for hundreds of millions has been filed by Engineering of Transport Structures at the District Court for Prague 9. "We are requesting the money for the investor's technical supervision that we provided on the construction site, engineering-geological surveys, for organizing tenders, obtaining an extension of the building permit, and other activities that we performed according to the valid contract with the transit company, invoiced and which we have not yet been paid for," said the company's director Michal Lec.

At the same time, the company claims that since the start of construction on metro line D this spring, it has invoiced additional millions for work on the construction that DPP has not yet settled. "This involves an amount of approximately 20 million crowns, which we are urging the transit company to settle in a pre-litigation warning. Otherwise, we will withdraw from the contract, and the construction of the metro would have to be stopped, because it cannot be carried out without technical supervision. Additionally, companies working on the construction would incur damages," Lec stated.

Scheinherr said that Engineering of Transport Structures is attempting to blackmail the city to extract more money from DPP than what it is entitled to according to expert assessments. "We have an opinion from a law firm prepared that even if Engineering of Transport Structures were to withdraw, we are ready to replace them immediately. So the construction of metro line D is in no way at risk," said Scheinherr. According to him, the company then has an unfavorable contract with DPP, which it is not fulfilling. The contract also lacks specific performance deadlines, he noted.

According to Scheinherr, this is merely an election campaign. "Engineering of Transport Structures has a gold mine in the old contract from January 18, 2010, which was signed under ODS and continued under (the government) ANO. We started tightening the faucets for them, so they are fighting for their benefactors from Spolu to reopen the faucets, which is why they pulled out this pre-election pseudo-scandal," Scheinherr said. According to him, the company did not send a pre-litigation warning and he is unaware of any.

DPP previously stated that it had refused to pay for certain activities that Engineering of Transport Structures was supposed to perform according to the contract, but these were not done. In the 2010 contract, according to DPP, it was stated that Engineering of Transport Structures was supposed to ensure a valid building permit for the entire metro line D within three years of signing, but this occurred only after more than nine years and only for the first section. "DPP, as a municipal company, must act with the care of a proper businessman. We cannot reimburse any contractor for remuneration for activities or work that they did not carry out at all," said DPP's general director Petr Witowski in March this year. DPP then stated that if Engineering of Transport Structures chose to withdraw from the contract, the company would immediately select a new contractor through a tender.

DPP began construction of the section of metro line D from Pankrác to Olbrachtova street in the second half of April this year, which will be followed by a section to Nové Dvory. The section from Nové Dvory to the Písnice Depot will be built last. Total costs, taking inflation into account, are preliminarily expected to be 52.09 billion crowns.