Prague’s leadership wants to negotiate with the state about the future of the Prague Congress Centre (KCP) in Prague’s Nusle district. Discussions should focus on the expansion of the centre and a possible change in its ownership structure. In an interview with ČTK, Deputy Mayor Jiří Pospíšil (TOP 09) said this today. According to him, the municipality also wants an analysis of the impact of the building expansion from the KCP management. The state, through the Ministry of Finance, has been the majority owner of KCP since 2014. The capital city, which originally owned the entire centre, holds 45.65 percent of the shares. The KCP joint stock company was established on July 1, 1995.
“It will be necessary to negotiate with the finance minister (Zbyněk Stanjura, ODS) or his deputies to see if we will somehow resolve the ownership shares. According to my information, the state wants to get rid of its stake,” Pospíšil said. The state has a larger stake in the company, but limited voting rights.
According to Pospíšil, the discussion is necessary in connection with the planned extension and expansion of the centre. Prague needs to either acquire the state’s share and start the expansion, or the ministry needs to agree to it, Pospíšil said. If the state wanted to get rid of the stake, the city would probably not buy it, but exchange it, he said.
He discussed with KCP CEO Lenka Žlebková that the company should present an analysis of how the expansion would affect the KCP’s operations, both its economy and the number of congresses, as the KCP has to refuse some events due to limited capacity. “When the director tells me that she is able to support KCP, that she will make some of the money for the renovation of KCP and that she sees the potential of using the space we will add, I have no reason not to believe her. But I want there to be a political consensus on this, if there isn’t, I won’t push it,” Pospíšil said.
The deputy said it is not yet possible to say when exactly the future of the centre will be decided. The discussion will also look for a consensus in the municipal coalition of Together (ODS, TOP 09 and KDU-ČSL), the Pirates and STAN. This needs to be resolved as soon as possible, if only because of rising prices and inflation, Pospíšil added.
There have been talks about expanding the centre for many years, and in the past an architectural competition was held in which the Spanish firm OCA won. The architects designed a new elongated building to the south of the current building, intended for the accompanying exhibitions of the various congresses. The main exhibition hall is to have a variable interior space that can be adapted to the needs of the various exhibitions.
KCP reported revenues of CZK 281 million in 2021, up 11 per cent year-on-year. The economy ended with a loss of 23.1 million, 79.6 percent less than in 2020, due to the reduction of the centre’s operations because of the epidemic of covid-19.
Source: CTK
Photo: prague.eu
