ÚOHS: Prague has to pay 11 million for mistakes in the Troja Bridge tender

Brno - Prague received a fine of 11 million crowns from the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS). It is for mistakes in the public contract for the construction of the Troja Bridge, which is part of the Blanka tunnel complex. According to the office, the city council admitted substantial changes to the conditions specified in the contract for work, which is in violation of the Public Procurement Act. The office stated this in a press release today. The Prague city council's statement is being sought by ČTK.

According to the office, Prague expanded the original contract to include construction work involving the implementation of a new Troja Bridge, and did so without using any legally mandated type of procurement procedure. This excluded competition among companies.

"A completely different bridge was built, which does not match the original proposal either visually or in terms of cost. The original design of the Troja Bridge worth nearly 500 million crowns was changed, and an exceptionally complex and globally unique new Troja Bridge was constructed, whose implementation cost increased by nearly one billion crowns," stated the chairman of ÚOHS, Petr Rafaj.

The office has dealt with the contract repeatedly. The current decision is final, the chairman of ÚOHS, Petr Rafaj, confirmed the opinion of his subordinates.

Already the council of the capital city under the leadership of Tomáš Hudeček (now an independent, in the TOP 09 club) claimed that the company Metrostav was building a different bridge than the one designed. Therefore, it cannot reimburse the invoices. For this reason, the capital city also initiated arbitration. The arbitration court decided that Prague must pay the amount requested by Metrostav.

The Blanka tunnel, for which the construction was commissioned by a political administration under Mayor Pavel Bém (ODS), was supposed to be put into operation in 2011. The project became at least six billion crowns more expensive. The arbitration court has already resolved disputes between Prague and the construction company Metrostav. The amounts involved were in the billions of crowns.