Prague lost billions in city planning process

Prague lost billions of crowns in the process of changing the master plan, says Prague’s deputy mayor Tomáš Hudeček, responsible for city planning. The changes to the plan that enabled, for example, the addition of new floors to buildings, should have brought in a total of CZK 2.7bn to the city coffers, but resulted only in increasing developer profits. Hudeček argues that in some countries the developers contribute 3 percent to the city budget from they profit gained through such changes. “In Prague, similar percentages are being paid as well, but they are not added to the city budget. We can only speculate what their fate is,” say Hudeček. “We want to legalize these payments and invest the money back into the public space.” To further prevent corruption, Hudeček plans to start work on a new, simplified master plan. But the proposal must be approved by the Prague city council, which will deal with it on its next meeting on June 7. Disapproval on the matter could stir serious controversy in the Prague city coalition, writes Lidovky.cz.