Following minister's threat, D1 reconstruction set to resume

The construction company responsible for the reconstruction of the country’s D1 highway announced on Monday that it would resume work suspended over a fortnight ago over costs. The announcement came shortly after Transport Minister Zdeněk Žák threatened to terminate the contract if work on the respective stretch of the road did not resume immediately. The company halted work on the argument that the road was in much worse condition than expected and asked the investor for more money. The country’s Road and Motorway directorate, which allegedly failed to commission an adequate expert assessment of the state of the highway, has said it is ready to negotiate the question of cost but has warned it would demand penalties for work not concluded on schedule.