The fate of the cultural factory in Plzeň could be clear in a week

Plzeň - In just a week, there could be clarity about the fate of the unfinished archive and cultural factory at the Světovar complex in Plzeň, and thus about the fate of Plzeň's flagship as the European Capital of Culture 2015 (EHMK). The Regional Council of the ROP Southwest will meet to decide whether to permit an exception and allow an extension of the project completion deadline to September 30, 2015, which is three months longer than currently stipulated. If they do not approve this, Plzeň will lose a hundred million crown grant, which will likely lead to the entire project collapsing, ČTK has learned.
    The construction of the archive and the so-called 4x4 Culture Factory was halted this spring due to harmful tar that was discovered during demolition work in the insulation of walls and floors of the complex. The city has already allocated tens of millions of crowns for its removal, but the remediation has affected the work schedule.
    "A decision to extend the implementation of the Světovar project to September 30 would allow us to successfully complete the project, considering all the problems that exist there. Now it is in the hands of the committee," said Plzeň Mayor Martin Baxa (ODS) to ČTK.
    According to Ivo Grüner (ČSSD), Deputy Governor of the Plzeň Region for European funds and Chairman of the Regional Council of ROP Southwest, the committee meeting will take place on August 26. "The deadline of September 30, 2015, is already at least a month beyond what we are willing to accept for all other projects. If they come with opinions (Plzeň) that they can meet the deadline and convince the officials on the Regional Council committee, who are specialists, meaning construction supervisors and technicians as well as administrators, then I have no problem with that. However, I will not favor one entity," he stated.
    According to Grüner, creating any precedent could have negative impacts. "It concerns 100 million crowns. If they cannot manage it, then the region, or rather both regions (Plzeň and South Bohemia), will lose 100 million crowns that we could invest in education, transportation, or elsewhere. Not to mention the fines and other embarrassments that we would have to face," he added. The fate of the project will rest in the hands of 16 people, eight members on each side, meaning for each region, five must be on each side.
    Due to Světovar, the leadership of Plzeň and the leadership of the Plzeň 2015 company conducted extensive discussions in Brussels over the past few days. "We tried to assure representatives of the European Commission of the readiness of the Plzeň project as the European Capital of Culture in 2015. We assured them that if the ROP committee does not grant our extension request, we have a backup solution in the form of a depot in Cukrovarská," said the mayor. The program that was supposed to take place in the cultural factory would then be held at the former depot area. "We believed that this explanation was received satisfactorily. I believe we have alleviated justified concerns about the Světovar project and its content, and that we will receive the Melina Mercouri Prize," Baxa stated.
    The European Commission systematically monitors the EHMK project each year. In the case of a successful preparatory phase, it awards the Melina Mercouri Prize, which comes with a financial reward of 1.5 million euros.