The Prague 20 town hall has completed construction of an apartment building with seven small flats that will be used by young people as so-called starter housing. It is also planning to build another apartment building with larger rental flats, according to Petr Měšt’an (ODS), the mayor of Horní Počernice. The town hall also began construction of a gym for schools and the public this year.
The construction of the two-storey building in Náchodská Street has already been completed and the mayor said the town hall is now waiting for the approval, which should take place in the next few days. The construction cost about CZK 27.5 million, of which about CZK 14.4 million was obtained by the municipality. The town hall will apply for a state subsidy from the State Investment Support Fund for another five million, which was agreed by the town councillors on Monday.
According to Měšt’an, the municipality wants to further expand its housing stock, so it has already prepared a project to build another building with 15 flats with a larger footprint, intended mainly for young families. The mayor added that the town hall would like to have the building permit in the autumn and then it will try to get money from the municipality again. “We certainly won’t have the funds for that because we are also building a gym now, so we will probably apply for an interest-free loan from the municipality,” he said.
The town hall started construction of the gymnasium in Jívanská Street in May, which will cost about CZK 138.6 million including VAT and is expected to be completed in about a year. The gym will be used by Upper Bohemia’s primary schools as well as the public, associations and sports clubs.
In recent years, Prague has been struggling with a housing crisis caused by high housing prices. There are about 30,000 flats owned by the city and its districts, out of the original 194,000 that came into the ownership of the metropolis after 1991. Privatisations followed, reducing the city’s housing stock by more than 80 percent. The city administration wants to increase the number of municipal flats again and thus ensure affordable housing, for example for representatives of professions that are essential for the city’s operation, which is why it is financially supporting the construction of housing in the city districts from a special fund.
The Prague 20 district is located on the eastern edge of Prague, includes the cadastral area of Horní Počernice and is home to about 15,300 people. It is governed by a coalition of ODS, TOP 09 and independent candidates together with the groups Šance pro Počernice and Počernice otherwise.
Source: CTK
Photo: prazskypatriot.cz
