Mushroom: According to Babiš, the state will not contribute to the ring roads and hospital in Prague

Prague - Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) informed Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates) that Prague will not receive anything from the state at all due to the planned bureaucratic district in Letňany, Hřib told ČTK and the Seznam Zprávy website after today's meeting with the Prime Minister. He believes that the capital will use the land in Letňany more to address housing availability, he added. In an SMS response to ČTK's inquiry, Babiš wrote that Hřib led the discussions in a way that he had to end them. According to him, the mayor has the state's offer in writing. If he wants to respond, he will certainly do so, added Babiš.

Babiš and Hřib discussed this evening the possible establishment of a bureaucratic district near the final station of metro line C in Letňany. The city demanded that, in exchange for the land, the state contribute to the completion of the Prague Ring Road and the inner ring and build a new hospital.

"The prime minister told me that Prague will not receive anything from the state at all, and with that we parted ways. I think that Prague will now use Letňany more to address the housing availability crisis," Hřib said. "Considering that the prime minister stated that from his perspective, this is the last meeting on this topic, I think this discussion is truly closed. I do believe that this is not a very good approach to Prague, which accounts for 25 percent of the gross domestic product. The fact that Prague wants only the same as what the state provides to Brno is not unreasonable," the mayor added.

Today, Hřib reiterated to Babiš that Prague demands that the state complete the northeastern part of the outer ring around Prague, contribute 60 billion crowns to the inner ring, and build a hospital for 8.5 billion, where a larger part of the Bulovka Hospital would relocate. This afternoon, Babiš spoke in Letňany about the idea of establishing a trauma center rather than a hospital. Hřib called this an extraordinarily naive idea this afternoon.

"The prime minister led the discussions in a way that I had to end them. The offer for financing the outer ring of Prague from the budget of the Road and Motorways Directorate and the inner ring of Prague through PPP, and the proposal to build a trauma center instead of a hospital, is in writing for the prime minister, so if he wants to respond, he will certainly do so," Babiš wrote to ČTK about the evening meeting with the mayor.

The government considers Letňany the most suitable option because up to 10,000 employees can be accommodated there, and the metropolitan plan allows for the construction of administrative buildings. The government office also argues that it has good transportation access to the final stop of Metro Line C.

According to the mayor, Babiš rejected the concept proposed by the city as a whole. "He suggested a PPP project route, while the state actually cannot build PPP projects," Hřib stated, adding that the bureaucratic district project never made sense from the start. "On the list of buildings that were to be vacated, supposedly due to the need for more economical and ecological operation, were also buildings that had been very recently renovated. For example, the Ministry of the Environment building in Vršovice," he noted.