TSK and Metrostav TBR filed a complaint against the decision of the Office for the Protection of Competition regarding the Libeň Bridge

Prague - The city-owned Technical Road Administration (TSK) and the company Metrostav TBR have filed an appeal against a recent decision by the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) regarding the reconstruction of the Libeň Bridge. In response to a query from ČTK, the office's spokesperson Milena Marešová stated this today. At the end of June, ÚOHS decided that TSK could continue the reconstruction of the bridge complex only to the extent that corresponds to the originally competed works and not the later revised study. The appeal will be addressed by the chairman of the office, Petr Mlsna.

The Libeň Bridge is a complex of six bridges. It was created according to the design of architect Pavel Janák in 1928 and has never been repaired. The contract for its reconstruction was awarded to Metrostav TBR by TSK based on a tender at the beginning of 2022, and the first works began in September of the same year. Last year, workers demolished the so-called inundation bridge towards Palmovka, and in May of this year, the construction of a new bridge began.

Meanwhile, however, an updated study was created, which shows a number of changes compared to the original intention. The most significant change is that instead of reconstructing the historic bridge over the Vltava, it plans to replace it with a replica on the original piers. This is precisely what the latest decision by the antimonopoly office concerns, according to which, in view of the extensive changes, the municipal company has effectively awarded a new contract without issuing a new procurement procedure.

"The decision is not final, as both the contracting authority (TSK) and the selected supplier (Metrostav TBR) filed an appeal against it in mid-July," Marešová added today. The appeals will now be decided by the office chairman Mlsna. He has previously annulled two decisions by ÚOHS, according to which TSK's approach was in order. Representatives of the municipal company previously stated that they plan to issue a new tender for the demolition and creation of the bridge replica over the Vltava and that the currently ongoing parts of the work are in accordance with the original project.

The leadership of Prague under Mayor Adriana Krnáčová (ANO) from 2014 to 2018 planned to demolish the bridge and replace it with a new structure, but her successors decided during the last electoral period to opt for repairs. The decision to create a replica on the original piers was then made at the end of 2023 based on a static model, with strengthening European legislation in connection with the collapse of a bridge in Genoa, Italy, also playing a role according to TSK's statements at the time.