Žihle, a remote village on the border of the Plzeň and Ústí Regions, is preparing its first housing zone since 1989. It wants to prevent depopulation. The village of 1,320 inhabitants has lost 110 people in 15 years. People have not yet had the opportunity to build a house there. For a long time, Žihle had no land to offer to those interested in plots, announced Mayor František Procházka (SNK – Municipality of Žihle).
“We had to buy the land in the meadow under the forest towards Rabštejn from a private individual. We have been working on the project for five years and hopefully it will be finished this year,” he said. The reseeding is expected to cost CZK 10 to 15 million. Žihle wants to pay for it from its own resources, mainly from the sale of land.
Preparing the plots is now the municipality’s top priority to retain young residents. “We would like to sell already, because people are already asking,” said the mayor. An expert has suggested a price of CZK 1,100 per square metre. More than 20 people have expressed preliminary interest, mostly locals who live in prefabricated houses and want their own homes. “Thanks to this, the municipal flats in prefabs will become available again for other interested people, we still have enough applications for flats, about 20,” he said. Acorns owns 120 flats. “We want to keep them, we’re not losing money on it yet. Even though we have now insulated one prefab house, it is still working out,” he added.
The municipality bought the land for the nine plots at a bargain price of CZK 160 per square metre. “We also recently got a field from the land fund for free. There we have only a study so far, there will be 11 plots on one area and 27 on the other,” Procházka said. He will try to lure developers. “We would sell them the land, they would screen it and then sell it. The municipality won’t have the money for that and doesn’t want to take out a big loan,” he said.
In order to speed up the preparation of the land, Žihle is postponing excessive investments and repairs, such as the completion of the repairs to the church and chapel, in which it has already invested more than 10 million crowns and wants to use them for gatherings of citizens and to promote the history and present. A major action directed by ČEZ is the relocation of overhead lines throughout the village underground. The first lower third from Kralovice to the cemetery is done, and the project is for the second third from the school to the railroad tracks.
Source CTK
