The councilors of Brno approved the land exchange for the tram to the campus

Brno - The Brno city council today approved the exchange of land needed for the extension of the tram line to the university campus. This was stated in a press release by Zuzana Taušová from the press office of the Brno magistrate. The city will acquire land covering around 1,500 square meters and will give nearly 17,000 square meters of land in return, receiving an additional payment of 88 million crowns from the company Real spektrum Západní Brána. The exchange must be approved by the city council. The extension of the line from Osová to the campus is expected to cost 1.3 billion crowns, and the work is to be completed by the end of 2020.

The city reached an agreement on the exchange after several months of negotiations. "The construction of the tram line from Osová to the campus is one of the strategic projects of the city of Brno. The new tram will significantly strengthen the connection to this part of the city, where up to 40,000 people travel daily. Unfortunately, we have until now been missing a part of the required land, without which it is not possible to obtain a zoning decision and subsequently also funding from European funds. Without an agreement on this land, the line could not be built," stated the mayor's deputy Richard Mrázek (ANO). According to him, the company was only willing to negotiate the exchange of land. "They refused any other form of property settlement," Mrázek added.

The estimated construction budget is around 1.3 billion crowns, which includes project documentation, technical supervision, investor, construction manager, and property settlement of the land. A total of 85 percent will be covered by grants from the Operational Program Transport. "Currently, an application for the issuance of a zoning decision for the entire construction has been submitted. The Brno Public Transport Company has already initiated a tender for the public procurement administrator, the construction manager, and the contractor," added Taušová.