The new Pardubice school in the barracks will cost 716 million crowns excluding VAT

Pardubice – The City of Pardubice has selected a contractor to build an elementary school on the site of the former Masaryk Barracks. Five companies entered the competition. The projected cost of the construction was around one billion CZK, with the winning bid being 716 million CZK without VAT. This was stated by Mayor Jan Nadrchal (ANO) to ČTK.

There were not large differences among the bid prices. The highest was about 747 million CZK without VAT. According to the mayor, the competition was demanding due to the extent and complexity of the project, and preparations took longer. Additionally, the city canceled the first tender and reissued it.

"The amount decreased to 716 million CZK. Initial estimates were over 900 million, then the designer started refining the price and got it lower. Even so, we ended up about 50 to 60 million lower than originally anticipated," Nadrchal said.

Now the city must wait for a 15-day period during which participants in the procedure can submit objections to the decision. If none is received, the city will proceed with preparing the contract. According to the mayor, the administrative process should take approximately another month to a month and a half. "I believe that sometime in October we could lay the cornerstone. Whether they will start building this year, that something will really happen there, I cannot say. It depends on what the winter will be like and how the company distributes the work. However, we require that the construction be completed within 20 months," Nadrchal stated.

The elementary school will have a capacity of 540 students. It will include 18 classrooms and seven specialized classrooms, language and IT rooms, an interactive playroom, a school club, workshops, a library, a media classroom, and a school club. It will also feature a cafeteria with a kitchen capable of serving up to 615 meals daily.

The city has allocated funds for this year and the next two years. They are also trying to obtain grants. "We have one grant approved, for ecological measures, such as passive standards and the like. We have 270 million CZK approved for that. Unfortunately, there is not a single koruna in the grant program, so we are waiting for the state to pour money from the budget into it," Nadrchal said.

The city is also hopeful to receive money from grants aimed at school construction. According to the mayor, there is talk of support amounting to approximately 500,000 to one million CZK per student. "However, Pardubice is prepared to build the school even if they ultimately do not receive the grants," Nadrchal said.