In July, a program for the revitalization of brownfields is expected to launch

Prague - The Ministry of Industry and Trade wants to announce a pilot call in July for the regeneration of unused areas, so-called brownfields. By 2023, it is expected to allocate two billion crowns for this, with 100 million crowns this year. František Kotrba, a spokesperson for the ministry, informed ČTK. There are over 11,000 brownfields in the Czech Republic covering an area of more than 38,000 hectares, which is three times larger than the area of Plzeň.

"The program is primarily aimed at economically affected regions. Projects with lower costs and the greatest positive impacts will be particularly supported. This is a pilot program, which does not aim to and is not capable of addressing all 11,000 locations," Kotrba told ČTK. Next year, the program is expected to have 300 million crowns.

According to CzechInvest, nearly half of all brownfields in the Czech Republic consist of former industrial sites. These are followed by areas previously used for agriculture or civic amenities. The lowest representation in the database is of sites originally serving tourism, raw material extraction, or transportation.

Brownfields, according to the CzechInvest project, create opportunities for investors to start new activities on one hand, while on the other hand, they often represent an ecological burden, the removal of which requires high investments. In Prague, some of the largest brownfields include Bubny-Zátory and freight train stations in Žižkov and Smíchov. In Brno, an example could be the site of the former Zbrojovka.

The Ministry of Agriculture has long supported utilizing brownfields for the construction of new buildings instead of building on quality soil.