The City of Prague is having trouble reaching agreement with land owners along the planned 10.6 km route of the metro D line. The city needs to buy out some 800 plots, but has managed to close just 15 so far. The deputy mayor for transportation, Petr Dolínek, suggests that if agreements cannot be reached, the sites should be expropriated. Lidové noviny writes that the project has barely moved ahead even though construction on the first section of the fourth metro line between Pankrác and the Depo Písnice should start in 2018. Prague City Hall and the Transport Ministry are therefore considering the possibility of securing construction permits before all agreements about the land buyouts are finalized. Prague’s Public Transport Company says that the city could use expropriations to acquire the land.
