The financing of the D metro construction with the help of a loan negotiated with the European Investment Bank (EIB) is not in danger. Daniel Šabík, head of the press department of the Prague Transport Company (DPP), announced yesterday. Doubts have arisen due to criticism of the tender for the construction of the second section of the new line from Olbrachtova to Nové Dvory by an association led by PORR, which was excluded from the tender by DPP due to failure to meet the tender conditions.
The construction of the new Prague metro line, which will connect Pankrác and Písnice, began last year. The section between Pankrác and Olbrachtova stations is now under construction. It is to be followed by the section from Olbrachtova to Nové Dvory. At the beginning of September, the DPP Board of Directors approved the Subterra consortium as the winner of the tender for the second part of the construction with a bid price of approximately CZK 30 billion excluding VAT.
Prague can draw on a loan of approximately CZK 23 billion from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for the entire construction of the D metro line, the conditions of which were approved by councillors last June. However, according to DPP, the contract for drawing the money has not even been concluded yet, so there is nothing to hold back. This is a reaction to statements made by opposition deputy Ondrej Prokop (ANO) in recent days. The estimated cost of the entire line is just over CZK 50 billion.
DPP CEO Petr Witowski also again rejected criticism from the PORR, Vinci and Marti (PVM) association, which earlier called its exclusion illegal and filed objections against it. “The DPP has always acted in accordance with the Public Procurement Act and the same was the case with the contract for the second part of Metro D. After all, the correctness of the procedure has so far always been confirmed by the courts and the Office for the Protection of Competition (OPC), which are the sole arbitrators,” he said.
Petr Mlsna, the chairman of the Office of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (ÚOHS), recently annulled a decision of the Office of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (ÚOHS) to cancel the tender for the metro section from Olbrachtova to Nové Dvory due to allegedly discriminatory conditions. The tender procedure was challenged by Metrostav DIZ before the Antimonopoly Office. The Office must now reassess the tender, taking into account the legal opinion of its chairman. The construction of Metro D was also dealt with by the Supreme Administrative Court, which ruled in favour of DPP and in August rejected the cassation complaints of the Pankrácká company and a man from Kovařovicova Street in Prague 4, who had previously unsuccessfully challenged the building permit at the Municipal Court in Prague.
