The completion of the Prague Ring Road is one step closer to implementation

The completion of the Prague Ring Road is one step closer to implementation
24/11/2017Press releases

The continuation of the ring road around Prague between Běchovice and the D1 motorway received the binding environmental impact assessment (EIA) statement. This way, the Ministry of the Environment gave green light to further preparation of the construction project. It shall start within three years. Opponents and land owners may obstruct the time schedule before construction commencement.

The completion of the Prague Ring Road is one step closer to implementation

The next step in the preparation of the completion of the Prague Ring Road will be the incorporation of the terms of the statement into the planning permit documentation, its negotiation competent authorities and the preparation of the planning permit application. In parallel with this, the preparation of the building permit documentation will proceed and action will be taken to start with property settlements by the capital city of Prague until the issue of the planning permit.

"We have been successfully working with the Prague Mayor Adriana Krnáčová, her deputy Petr Dolínek and representatives of the ŘSD in accelerating construction preparation. Our common objective is to start construction by the end of 2020 and have the 12.5km section of the Prague Ring Road opened four years later" says the Minister of Transport Dan Ťok.

The issuance of the statement by the Ministry of the Environment on the EIA documentation for the completion of another part of the Prague Ring Road, which will allow construction from Běchovice up to the D1 motorway, is the key moment in the process. "After it became clear the Prague Ring Road would not be table to obtain the exemption from the European Commission from repeated EIA process, we gave this project the highest priority. The Investor – the Road and Motorways Directorate (ŘSD) – submitted the EIA documentation in April and the Ministry of the Environment, taking into account the minimum sum of the administrative periods and the importance of the plan as such, kept the promised deadline and the opinion was issued in the autumn," says the Minister of the Environment Richard Brabec.

"This is an important piece of news for us, because section 511, which connects the Hradec and the Brno motorways, is of key importance for the city. I am happy we are moving forward with the whole project. On behalf of the city, I can promise that we will continue to be very active and will do our best to commence construction within the set deadline," says Prague Mayor Adriana Krnáčová.

The preparation time schedule of the so-called SOKP 511 foresees that at the beginning of next year the will be prepared to submit the planning permit documentation necessary for further negotiations with competent authorities and representatives of regions, towns and municipalities. What will follow will be the issuance of the planning permit which must be followed by the completion of the building permit documentation, its negotiation and the property preparation must be completed as well. Thanks to the major amendment to the building act, it will no longer be necessary to wait for the full completion of the property preparation, which should speed up the building permit process.

The completion of the Prague Ring Road may be delayed by lawsuits initiated by the landowners

The time schedule for the preparation foresees that, if everything goes according to plan, the building permit will be issued in 2020, the contractor will be selected and construction of the Prague Ring Road can officially start. A risk for the entire completion of the Prague Ring Road is the fact that the Supreme Administrative Court is facing a filing by the landowners under the future motorway, the Prague district of Dolní Chabry and the Chvalská association in which they attack the Principles of Territorial Development in Prague issued as of 11 Sept 201 and require that the designated areas and corridors of the entire ring road project be cancelled.
"These are further efforts of the owners of affected plots and buildings to completely block the construction of the entire Prague Ring Road, so that we can almost get back to the drawing board with all the preparations. The lawsuit was filed on the last possible date of the three-year period. As a result, this may delay the completion of the ring road indefinitely. There is a clear public interest here to finish the ring road and make lives easier for the one million inhabitants of the capital Prague, for hundreds of thousands of visitors to the metropolis and bring the tens of thousands of trucks away from the wider city centre to its edge," adds Ťok.



 
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