Liberec received a single bid for the design of the cable car to Ještěd, it is within the limit

Liberec – Liberec received a single offer for the preparation of project documentation for the construction of a cable car on Ještěd. It meets the basic requirement, which is a price of up to 29 million crowns excluding VAT. Jiří Janďourek (Mayors for the Liberec Region), the Deputy Mayor for architecture, public space, and transport construction, told ČTK.

"The basic parameter is met. Now the lawyers are checking whether other criteria are also fulfilled. I hope they will be, because I believe that if the city council decides and selects this, then the cooperation will be good," said Janďourek. He expects that if there are no complications, the city's council will select the winner of the competition at the turn of August and September.

According to him, the low participation in the competition may be due to the fact that this is not a typical contract for designers. "It's not something that architects or engineers do every day. That means, I think many companies probably considered whether to even participate because it is a specific assignment," added the deputy mayor.

The operation of the previous cable car ended after a tragic accident in October 2021, when one of the two cabins fell due to a broken tow cable and the conductor died. At that time, the cable car belonged to Czech Railways, which decided not to operate it anymore and sold it to Liberec for 38.6 million crowns. The city is preparing to build a new cable car, with a different system and an extended route to the final tram stop in Horní Hanychov.

The new cable car will have one large-capacity cabin for 100 people suspended on two cables, known as a tramway. The cabin's rounded shape is intended to resemble a landing UFO, which is why it will have special lighting at the bottom. Its design was created by the studio Anna Marešová designers. The new cable car will likely be in operation no earlier than 2030. According to a preliminary economic analysis from 2024, its construction will require between 360 and 440 million crowns.