Praha will not start the modifications of Malostranské náměstí, the council canceled the tender

Prague - The outgoing Prague council has canceled the tender in which they selected the company Gardenline nearly a year ago for the long-planned modifications to Malostranské Square. According to the resolution approved by the council today, the project has undergone significant changes since the selection of the contractor. As a result, the duration of the work specified in the tender documents has extended from 12 months to more than double, thus it was necessary to cancel the competition. The council did not decide today on issuing a new tender.

The work is to be based on the architectural competition that the city evaluated in 2014, in which the project by architects Martin Hájek, Václav Hájek, and Petr Horský was successful. After the modifications, a parking lot will disappear from the upper part of the square, sidewalks will be expanded, and the traffic lanes for cars will be narrowed. The city anticipated starting work after selecting a contractor, which the council decided on December 13 of last year, in the spring of this year. Costs were to be 84.4 million crowns.

However, according to the document approved today, the city hall never signed a contract with the construction company Gardenline because a number of requests for modifications to the project emerged, particularly regarding heritage concerns. These include, for example, the necessity to conduct "extensive rescue archaeological research, at the highest professional level corresponding to the significance of the site, which was not appropriately considered within the project documentation."

Due to the change in traffic regulations, the document states that it will also be necessary to modify the intersection in the lower part of the square, and the municipal heritage authorities also require changes to the design of furniture and public lighting poles along the tram line to a historicizing form. "Furthermore, based on the requirements of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, it will be necessary to change the solution for the parking spaces along Sněmovní Street and to adjust the communication in front of the entrance to the underground garages of the Chamber of Deputies," states the document.

In 2016, the city removed the parking lot in the lower part of the square and attempted to organize cultural events there, but without significant public interest. The city also reconstructed the tram tracks in the square, around which new paving was placed, which will be installed throughout the area after the overall repair. The Radecký Praha association is striving for the return of the equestrian statue of Austrian-Hungarian Marshal Radetzky, which stood there from 1858 to 1919.

Prague has initiated or is preparing modifications to other public spaces as well. Work is currently being completed in the lower part of Wenceslas Square, where workers have completely repaved and expanded the space for pedestrians between Můstek and the tram tracks, planted trees, or built new benches and a fountain. There are also plans for modifications in the upper part, although it is unclear when they will begin. The transformation of Karlovo Square, Jiřího z Poděbrad Square, and Vítězné náměstí has also been long in preparation.