The town of Otrokovice provides a clear example of why major road investments take so long to complete in the Czech Republic. The city has been delayed in its attempts to build a bypass around it to relieve its roads from a constant stream of traffic from the D55 highway. Having recently carried out an enforced purchased of land, the original owner of the land has appealed, a move which promises to bring yet more delays to the process. Maddeningly for residents of the town, the plot in question is just 320 sqm. The state offered just CZK 150 per square meter, however the family that owned the land was asking for CZK 2,500 and claims to have bought land nearby (from the state) for CZK 2,000 per sqm. The same family has already won two court cases over land with the town and ended up receiving ten times the amount originally offered. The first half of the bypass has already been built, but it’s now looking unlikely that construction on the remainder will begin, as planned, in the second half of this year.
