Praha will transfer 600 million crowns to the Congress Center for the construction of a new hall

Prague - Prague will transfer 600 million crowns to the company Kongresové centrum Praha (KCP), which it fully owns. The funds are intended for the construction of a new exhibition hall and several other necessary investments. This was decided today by the city councilors. This year, the municipality purchased 54.35 percent of the company from the state and fully took control of it.

Prague will transfer the money to the company as a voluntary supplement outside of the basic capital. According to the explanatory report, this is the fastest and simplest form. "We will be starting an already approved investment in the hall, which will be built next to the congress center. We will send the company 600 million crowns in this form. The company will have funds released so that it can significantly advance in the construction of that hall next year," said Prague's finance councilor Zdeněk Kovářík (ODS).

According to him, the construction of the hall is the main reason why the city purchased the company. Thanks to this hall, KCP will compete with the largest congress centers in the world, according to Kovářík. In addition to the hall, the funds are also intended for the repair of garages, reducing the energy intensity of the building, new stage technologies, and the repair of terraces around the building.

The transaction with the state to control KCP was approved by city councilors at the end of June this year. In exchange for the majority stake in the company, the state received from the city Faust's House on Prague's Charles Square, a plot in the Homolka Hospital, a parking lot in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and 2.21 billion crowns, which the state had previously invested in the center in connection with the International Monetary Fund meeting in 2000.

The joint-stock company KCP was established on July 1, 1995. The congress center offers 70 halls and lounges for hosting events, from small conferences to large congresses, including equipment at the highest technical level. It also includes the Business Centre Vyšehrad and the four-star Holiday Inn Prague Congress Centre with a capacity of 254 rooms.

Its construction took place between 1976 and 1981, and at the turn of the millennium, the building was remodeled. It is a neofunctionalist building, and its architects were Jaroslav Mayel and Antonín Vaněk.