Due to the cultural center in Rožnov, there will be an extraordinary town council meeting

Rožnov pod Radhoštěm - The future of the cultural center in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm in the Vsetín region will be discussed by the city councilors at an extraordinary council meeting. It will take place in March, probably in the second or third week, Mayor Jan Kučera (Independent Rožnováci) said today at the council meeting.

The construction of the center, which costs more than 360 million crowns, was halted two years ago, with the foundation slab completed. The construction of the cultural center began in the spring of two years ago by the Zlín construction company Navláčil. It was supposed to be the largest investment project in the city in recent years. The company disagreed with the city management over the change of subcontractor for the timber construction. It also pointed out deficiencies in the project documentation and demanded a higher price for the main construction. In November two years ago, it withdrew from the contract, and in December the city agreed to terminate the contract with the company.

The city then commissioned the Brno University of Technology to evaluate the project documentation for the construction of the center. Last January, the leadership of Rožnov stated that according to the initial conclusions of the expertise, the documentation contains serious deficiencies. The project author, Archteam project office, claimed that the documentation is without flaws and that the requests made by the city as defects in the documentation would be incorporated as additional requirements. In mid-April, it submitted the revised documentation.

The city then decided to have the revised project documentation assessed by an expert from the University of Technology, and based on the results, it will decide on the further continuation of the construction of the center. The mayor stated that according to the assessment, defects still exist in the documentation even after the corrections. In January this year, a meeting was arranged between the architect, representatives of the city, and the expert institute of the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the University of Technology, but the architect excused himself from the meeting.

At the beginning of February, an event to support the completion of the cultural center took place in the city. "The situation has come to the point where Archteam immediately submitted a proposal for the initiation of mediation proceedings with the Czech Chamber of Architects after the last meeting with the city management on January 31, 2024. If the situation leads to a legal dispute between the city and Archteam, it would be almost impossible to complete the construction by the deadline required to utilize the grant of 120 million crowns. The city would lose not only this amount but especially the opportunity to have a functioning cultural center. The construction would remain unfinished for many years," representatives of the supporters of the center’s construction, Lenka Vičarová and Jan Měrka, stated in a call to the councilors. According to them, the city should either present an alternative plan or begin to cooperate with Archteam and initiate a public tender for the construction contractor.

Kučera told the councilors today that the city was ready to announce a public tender at the beginning of the year. "However, the assessment showed that there are still many areas in the project that need to be verified and may pose risks. So far, it has shown that attempts to settle this with Archteam are not leading to a final conclusion. Therefore, we are considering an alternative option, which is to resolve the project documentation in the form of design and build, which could shift the responsibility to the construction companies...," the mayor stated.

Former mayor and current governor Radim Holiš (ANO) stated that the second assessment was not publicly commented on. "It is speculative, it is not supported by any calculations, and the assessment cannot be considered relevant. The city has no expert assessment and no relevant evidence that there are mistakes in the project," he stated.