City Hall approves “most expensive” and “least environmental” ring-road plan

Prague City Hall has announced that the northern section of a proposed ring-road around Prague, connecting Ruzyně airport and the region of Březiněves will run through an area called Suchodol. The announcement comes despite the fact that an independent analysis of the three viable options for this road by the company Mott&MacDonald found the Suchodol option to be the most expensive and least environmentally friendly. Estimates suggest that this route will cost almost 22 billion crowns, while a so-called “northern option” will cost almost 8 billion crowns less, and avoid several protected nature reserves directly in the path of the southern route. City Hall has defended the decision arguing that the analysis by Mott&MacDonald was inadequate and not well prepared. Opponents of the plan are expected to appeal the decision which will then be approved or rejected by the Regional Development Ministry. At present, construction is expected to start in 2010 with an estimated completion date of 2015.

Author: Dominik Jůn