Nymburk Reevaluates the Plan for the Kindergarten Construction in Zálabí, It Could Serve More Municipalities

Nymburk – Nymburk is re-evaluating its plan to build a new Růženka kindergarten, which was supposed to be one of the largest investments this year. The reason is the anticipated decline in the number of children. Instead of a facility designated solely for the city, the Nymburk city council is considering a so-called joint kindergarten that could also serve neighboring municipalities. The city leadership intends to meet with their mayors in mid-September, said Deputy Mayor Zdeněk Vocásek (ODS) to ČTK.

"We still count on the kindergarten, but we need to address its capacity," said Vocásek. According to him, last year the occupancy of kindergartens in the Nymburk extended municipality (ORP) was 93 percent, while this year it was 89 percent. "Now there will be a relatively rapid decline and by 2030 we will reach 60 percent occupancy in kindergartens," added the deputy mayor.

Some municipalities, according to him, are already feeling the decrease in children and may have trouble maintaining facilities in the long term. Their costs have also increased due to the transfer of funding for non-pedagogical staff to the municipalities. "Therefore, we are coming up with the idea of utilizing the Růženka kindergarten for the needs of surrounding municipalities within the ORP," said Vocásek. Nymburk wants to assess the situation in neighboring municipalities and at the same time update the demographic forecast for the city itself. The current forecast for the entire administrative district has been published by the Ministry of Education, according to Vocásek.

As one possible source of funding, Vocásek mentioned the integrated territorial investment tool ITI. According to earlier information from the city, Nymburk could become part of the Prague Metropolitan Area and draw subsidies for similarly large projects. The city leadership also wants to negotiate with representatives of the Ministry of Education, as they would like to know the ministry's stance on future support for the construction and renovation of educational facilities before a potential decision on the kindergarten's construction.

At the beginning of September, Nymburk plans to publish a tender for a contractor to determine the actual offer price for the construction. The current estimated costs are approximately 152 million crowns.

The new Růženka kindergarten building in the Zálabí part of the city is to be created after the demolition of an inadequate structure, with the kindergarten's capacity tripling to about 150 places. The city has obtained a subsidy of 82.2 million crowns for the construction. However, the decision on its allocation was received only last December, and according to the grant conditions, the kindergarten was to be completed by April 30 of this year. In the remaining almost five months, it was not possible to complete the construction, and therefore the grant has lapsed, according to Vocásek.