The construction of Metro D will start in the second half of April, it has a valid building permit

Prague – The construction of the new line D of the Prague metro from Pankrác to Nové Dvory can begin. The building permit has today acquired legal force. Adam Scheinherr, the deputy mayor, told the ČTK news agency. About two weeks ago, the Ministry of Transport rejected the appeals of opponents of the construction against the issuance of the building permit. Today marked the end of the fifteen-day period for delivery of the public announcement, thus the permit became legally effective. The actual construction should begin in the second half of this April.

The investor of the construction is the Prague Public Transit Company (DPP), which has all the necessary permits and has selected the contractor for the build. The first section will be from Pankrác to Nové Dvory. The costs are estimated to be around 52.09 billion crowns when accounting for inflation. After that, the construction will continue to the Písnice Depot, and in the future, a section from Pankrác to Náměstí Míru is planned. The transfer station Pankrác C and D is expected to see more than 120,000 passengers daily.

"Today, the building permit for metro D has acquired legal force, specifically for the first five stations. We have thus obtained the most important building permit. It is a huge success, I would say that such a building permit is obtained by Prague once every ten years. Now that we have already selected the contractor, we can start with the construction," said Scheinherr.

A specific date for the construction to begin has not yet been set. According to Scheinherr, it will certainly happen no later than the second half of April. It is still necessary to prepare, for example, the construction site or address so-called traffic engineering measures, such as road closures.

This January, DPP completed the geological survey, which was conducted at four sites in Pankrác. Two were completed in August 2020, and the other two this year. All structures created during the survey will be used in the future. For example, a part has already been dug that will serve as a transfer between lines C and D. The survey costs were about 1.82 billion crowns.

The preparation of the construction faced several issues. The city had to reach agreements with landowners along the planned route. The Pankrácká společnost association filed several complaints against the construction, among other things accusing the city hall of systemic bias, which the Ministry of Transport subsequently rejected. The same complainants also addressed a complaint against the issuance of the building permit. The antimonopoly office also dealt with a complaint regarding the tender in which DPP selected the construction contractor. This complaint was also rejected.

For this year, the capital city has allocated more than four billion crowns in its budget for the construction of the metro. According to previous statements from Prague officials, the city hall will finance the construction both from its own budget and is negotiating with the European Investment Bank (EIB) for financing through a loan. At the same time, it will appeal to the government for assistance with the construction.