KRNAP agrees to the construction of a cable car to Sněžka

Pardubice - The town hall in Pec pod Sněžkou agreed on Tuesday with the Krkonošsko National Park (KRNAP) on the maximum transport capacity of the new cable car. This seems to have removed the last obstacle to the construction of a new eight-person gondola to the summit of Sněžka. This is reported by Mladá fronta Dnes in its current supplement for the Hradec Králové Region. However, Pec must obtain a grant from the European Union for the construction.
    "Pec pod Sněžkou opted for a variant with a capacity of 250 transported persons per hour, which was the last contentious point preventing the conclusion of an agreement between the national park administration and the town hall of Pec. After many years of various discussions about Sněžka, it seems that all parties have finally found a compromise solution," stated the spokesman for the Krkonošsko National Park administration, Radek Drahný.
    "We have previously demanded a higher transport capacity mainly to have sufficient financial resources to repay the loan for the new cable car. Since the opportunity to obtain a grant from the European Union funds has now arisen for the construction, we will not be under such economic pressure and can agree to the maximum number of transported persons required by the park managers," explained the mayor of Pec pod Sněžkou, Alan Tomášek.
    An important role in achieving mutual agreement also played last year's approval by the Pec town hall to relocate the planned ski area from Růžohorky to Vlašský vrch, significantly reducing the necessary deforestation. The replacement ski area for Růžohorky should seamlessly connect to the upper station of the lifts on the Javor slope in the current Pec ski area, where the new slope would begin. From there, another new transport device would take skiers to Vlašský vrch, from where they would ski down to the Barrandov lodge at the beginning of Velká Úpa.
    "At this moment, there are no disputes between us and the national park administration regarding the new cable car to the summit of Sněžka. Only negotiations about the technical details of the construction await us," Tomášek stated. Next year, the Pec town hall plans to obtain all necessary permits and in 2009 to construct the new gondola to Sněžka for nearly 400 million crowns.