The Zlín City Hall will receive lower subsidies for the Congress Center

Zlín - The Zlín city hall will not receive the entire last installment of European funding for the construction of the Congress Center. Due to errors made during construction, the city will only receive 12 million of the planned 40 million crowns. For the incorrect conclusion of three amendments to the contract for the public procurement, the city hall has already received a fine of 100,000 crowns from the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS). According to ÚOHS, the city failed particularly in not publishing three negotiation proceedings. The city lost tens of millions of crowns due to mistakes made by the previous city hall leadership, and that money will simply be missing, informed today by the mayor's deputy Bedřich Landsfeld (M.O.R.).
    The Congress Center, designed by architect Eva Jiřičná, began construction in June 2006 and was opened in September 2010. The construction costs amounted to 725 million crowns, of which 331 million was to be formed by European funding. The city also received state subsidies. The Congress Center is part of a complex together with the nearby University Center.
    The initiative for the antitrust office was given by the Regional Council of the Central Moravia Cohesion Region. According to ÚOHS, the city, as the contracting authority, approached only one bidder for additional work that was supposed to ensure a smooth occupancy permit. The amendments to the original construction plan were to be caused by changes in technical standards. However, the city should have anticipated the changes in advance; the reason for the additional construction work was, according to the office, more due to the inconsistent and insufficient approach of the contracting authority in preparing the original tender documentation.
    Zlín was supposed to receive the last installment of the grant last year. Due to the audit, however, the payment was postponed, forcing the city to stop investments planned for the second half of 2011.
    After the last elections, a coalition was formed at the Zlín city hall by the winning TOP 09/STAN with the M.O.R. movement, the Christian Democrats, the Zlín Independent Movement, and the Public Affairs Party. The latter party left the coalition last year. In opposition after the elections were ODS and ČSSD, along with KSČM, which together with KDU-ČSL formed a coalition in the previous election period.