The Minister of Transport Bárta stopped all railway construction projects

Prague - Minister of Transport Vít Bárta (VV) has today decided to immediately halt all railway construction projects funded by the Railway Infrastructure Administration. Jakub Ptačinský from the ministry's press department informed ČTK. According to the Association of Construction Entrepreneurs (SPS), construction companies are shocked by the ministry's dealings, and the situation could end up in court due to the state's failure to meet commitments.
    As Bárta added at an extraordinary press conference, the halting of construction was prompted by the fact that construction companies did not offer the state the requested discounts. According to Bárta, the companies proposed discounts in the order of promiles and "tiny" percentages, which did not satisfy the minister.
    The move, according to Bárta, is connected with the effort to streamline construction. "From this perspective, we need active cooperation from construction companies, which I firmly hope will read crisis management textbooks, where every supplier should care about the interests of their customer and especially in times of crisis should understand that it is necessary to accommodate the customers," stated Bárta.
    "I refuse any kind of forceful solution. I believe we live in a rule of law, and a state official, even a high-ranking one, should be able to behave in accordance with the law," stated SPS president Václav Matyáš. According to him, construction costs are increasing mainly due to the state, whose laws and regulations often require "nonsensical construction elements", such as noise barriers in open countryside or bear bridges.
    Therefore, companies are reportedly willing to negotiate changes to projects with the state and to eliminate several elements from contracts by agreement. "Some changes to projects are of course possible, but not even God can take inventory in a week, perhaps the minister can do so in a month," Matyáš stated. The companies themselves are currently getting acquainted with the situation and do not want to comment. "We will not comment on this," stated Skanska spokesperson Lucie Nováková.
    Bárta also halted the payment of invoices and ordered their review "from the perspective of factual, temporal, and financial fulfillment". In connection with this, SŽDC appointed a new deputy for auditing, Pavel Habarta, who previously worked as a crisis manager for ČD-Telematika. Since companies are referring to signed contracts, Bárta also strengthened his team of lawyers.
    SŽDC head Jan Komárek stated at a press conference that he agreed with the minister on the halt of construction. According to him, this concerns about 15 projects at various stages of completion, for which the state was supposed to pay about ten billion crowns this year. This primarily concerns the third and fourth corridors, which lead from Prague to the west and south of Bohemia. The measures do not concern the removal of flood damage, nor repairs and maintenance work to ensure safety on the railway.
   "In any case, it holds that safety will be guaranteed, so we will complete some stages that could theoretically pose certain threats that would not comply with safety," Komárek stated.
    Last week, the Minister of Transport called on companies involved in transport infrastructure construction to propose significant discounts to the state due to a lack of funds in the state budget. Without the discounts, the projects will be halted, Bárta threatened. The minister expects offers for discounts from the builders of roads and highways on Tuesday, but according to Matyáš, no list will arrive at the Road and Highway Directorate due to time constraints.
   "These companies cannot deliver anything; they are prepared to look at the project with people from the Road and Highway Directorate and agree that we will not realize something. We are certainly open to changing contractual relationships," Matyáš stated.
    Currently, the largest projects on railway corridors are in the south and west of Bohemia. Just on the third and fourth corridors, SŽDC is expected to invest over 84 billion crowns from this year until 2016.
   
    Current railway projects:
   
Planned completion — Construction
2013 — Modernization of the České Budějovice - Nemanice railway
2013 — Modernization of the Votice - Benešov near Prague railway
2012 — Optimization of the České Velenice - Veselí nad Lužnicí railway
2012 — Optimization of the Bystřice nad Olší - Český Těšín railway
2011 — Optimization of the Praha Hostivař - Praha hl. n. railway
2011 — Modernization of the Blažovice - Nezamyslice railway
2011 — Reconstruction of the Střelenský tunnel
2011 — Optimization of the Beroun - Zbiroh railway
2011 — Optimization of the Stříbro - Planá near Mariánské Lázně railway
2011 — Reconstruction of the Bojkovice station
2011 — Modernization of the Praha Libeň - Praha Běchovice railway
2011 — Optimization of the Mosty u Jablunkova - Bystřice nad Olší railway
2010 — Optimization of the Planá near Mariánské Lázně - Cheb railway
2010 — Brno - siding station
2010 — Přerov node
2010 — Reconstruction of the Olomouc station
2010 — New connection Praha hl. n. - Mas. n. - Libeň - Vysočany - Holešovice
2010 — Electrification of the Lysá nad Labem - Milovice railway

    source: SŽDC