The Prague City Court rejected the actions of environmental associations against the building permit on the D49 motorway from Hulín in the Kroměříž region to Fryšták in the Zlín region. Therefore, construction work can continue. The Children of the Earth and Egeria have demanded the revocation of the building permit for this section, which was issued last year. This was stated in today’s regional supplement of the Young Front Today (MfD).
“The lawsuits were dismissed,” Adam Wenig, a spokesman for the Municipal Court in Prague, which ruled on the lawsuits, told the daily. He has not provided further details. The court could revoke the permit, which would mean stopping work on the construction of the highway. This happened already in 2011, when the road workers had a valid permit, which, however, the court revoked after the activists’ lawsuits due to formal mistakes.
“We are glad that we can continue our activities. If the decision were to our detriment, it would be very unpleasant to interrupt the work and rehabilitate the whole work,” said Karel Chudárek, director of the Zlín branch of the Directorate of Roads and Motorways.
Environmental associations are most likely to file a cassation complaint against the dismissal of the lawsuit, which would be dealt with by the Supreme Administrative Court. On the basis of it, he can revoke the building permit or return the case to the Prague City Court for a new hearing. “We expected the city court to dismiss the lawsuit. It did so probably because it is a priority highway (D49). Therefore, we have no choice but to file a cassation complaint against the verdict,” said Miroslav Patrik, chairman of Children of the Earth. Associations must file a cassation complaint within 14 days of receiving the judgment.
According to the MfD, the Children of the Earth objected to the Prague City Court, for example, failure to meet all the conditions of the zoning decision, failure to address above-limit noise intensities in nearby houses and low landscape protection. They also requested a judicial review of the binding opinion of the EIA procedure, which assesses the impact of the construction on the environment and which did not include a discussion with the public.
Renewed work on the construction of the D49 motorway between Hulín and Fryšták began at the end of last year with topsoil overburden. In the winter, builders cut down trees in a 17.3-kilometer section of the planned highway, followed by work on the embankment and the establishment of bridges. The ŘSD expects to put the motorway into operation at the end of 2024. The section will divert part of the transit traffic from the built-up area of Zlín, Otrokovice, Holešov, Hulín and other municipalities in the Kroměříž and Zlín regions.
The competitive costs for the construction of the D49 section from Hulín to Fryšták amount to CZK 5.96 billion excluding VAT, but due to changes in technical regulations and the necessary valorisation, they will probably increase by tens of percent. In the future, the D49 motorway will connect Central and Eastern Moravia with Western Slovakia. From Hulín it will lead around Fryšták and Zlín to Horní Lidča in the Vsetín region and to the Slovak Lysá pod Makytou.
Source: MfD and CTK
