NKÚ received an offer to purchase Art Office Gallery in Prague 7

Prague - The Supreme Audit Office received an offer to purchase a building that could potentially serve as its new headquarters. The building is the Art Office Gallery in Prague's Holešovice, which is part of the ArtGen complex. The office was offered the building this April by PPF Real Estate for a price of 632.5 million crowns excluding VAT, the spokesperson for the Supreme Audit Office, Olga Málková, told ČTK today.
    The office has been considering its headquarters for several years. There is also the possibility of constructing a new building on a plot of land that the office already owns in Holešovice. According to materials available to ČTK, building a new office building would require 783 million crowns including VAT. This price also includes expenses for purchasing the land, which the office already owns.
    Purchasing the building from PPF Real Estate would cost approximately 742 million crowns including VAT. This price assumes that the office would sell its land in Holešovice for about 105 million crowns.
    The Supreme Audit Office has not yet decided on any option. The office will discuss the possibilities for the selection of headquarters with members of the budget and control committee on Tuesday.
    Since 2007, the office has been located in a rented building Tokovo in Prague Holešovice. In the first five years, it paid rent of about 80 million crowns per year, which decreased to 16.7 million crowns from June 2013. However, according to materials for the MPs, the office is interested in having its headquarters owned by the state.
    The government’s relocation committee offered the office seven state buildings, but it did not accept any of the offers. These included, for example, the Trade Fair Palace in Prague, where the National Gallery is located. In 2012, the committee offered buildings to the office in places like Jihlava or Vyškov.
    The Supreme Audit Office also received an offer for the purchase of the Tokovo building. Next year, it would cost 774 million including land, and in 2017 it would cost 798 million, both excluding VAT. According to the Supreme Audit Office, that would be more expensive than constructing a new building, but it would be possible to accommodate other offices in it as well.
    The office had also previously agreed that if it built a new headquarters, it would include space for the parliamentary library and the archive of the Chamber of Deputies. According to materials, these could also be housed in the offered Art Office Gallery.
    The office will inform members of the budget and control committee about the situation regarding the search for headquarters on Tuesday. The budget committee is set to begin discussing the draft budget of the Supreme Audit Office for next year. "We are presenting fair and clear information to the parliamentary committees about the economic benefits of both options - both the purchase and the construction. Regardless of which one is chosen, there is still a long road ahead of us. However, at this moment, it is necessary to make a decision on which direction we will take," said the president of the Supreme Audit Office, Miloslav Kala.