Negotiations with land owner over construction of D11 motorway come to a close

A dispute over the purchase of land needed for the extension of the D11 motorway from Prague to Hradec Králové in East Bohemia has finally come to an end, after long twenty years of negotiations between the state and the farmer, whose land obstructed the construction.

D11 motorway, photo: Miloš Turek

Ludmila Havránková, owner of farmland on the outskirts of Hradec Králové, this week signed a final agreement with the Czech Land Office. Under the deal, the state will swop Mrs. Havránková’s plot for 16.5 hectares of land, which she has been renting until now.

The plot in question was the last tract of land obstructing the completion of the D11 highway. The rest of the land was bought from Mrs Havránková already in 2012 by the Ministry of Transport, for 90 million crowns.

The construction of the motorway, which is part of a bigger plan to link Prague with the north-east of the country and eventually Poland, was launched back in 1978. It was halted in 2006 several kilometres short of Hradec Králové by a small village of Plačice, when the state failed to reach agreement with Mrs Havránková.

The construction of the remaining 2.5 kilometre stretch of the highway between Prague and Hradec Králové started in July this year, but project was further delayed by the construction firm so that additional contractual issues could be resolved.

The construction is also slowed down by an ongoing archaeological and geological research, which is expected to wrap up in May of next year. If no other obstacles emerge, the D11 highway should definitely reach the city of Hradec Králové in August 2017.