Supreme Audit Office: Billions spent on local roads with limited impact

A state programme allocating nearly five billion crowns for the reconstruction of local roads has had only a minimal impact, according to the Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ).

According to the report, between 2019 and 2025, the Ministry for Regional Development distributed 4.7 billion crowns to municipalities, supporting over 2,000 projects. However, an audit found that in more than half of the cases, the funding brought little improvement to traffic conditions.

In some instances, municipalities renovated dead-end streets or roads in peripheral areas. In others, pre-existing deficiencies remained unresolved even after reconstruction.

The ministry said it accepts the audit’s findings and does not plan to repeat the funding call under the same conditions.