Aktuálně.cz: speculators bought up land on Prague ring-road

According to the information by the server Aktuálně.cz, speculators bought up hundreds of hectares of land around the upcoming north-west part of the Prague ring-road. The records in the Land Registry show that the most plots are now registered to the family of Jan Čonka, the Central-Bohemian entrepreneur, unknown to public. Along with future contracts, Čonka could own around 200 hectares land around Prague in which he has invested “definitely over 50 million“ crowns, in his own words. Čonka, who previously organized purchase of land for the company H-System, which later went bankrupt, has admitted that the main role in the investment was played by the ring-road. However, the locals believe that he is only a so-called white horse, the server said. Municipality and state officials argue that they could not prevent the speculative purchases of lucrative land on which their owners would earn hundreds of millions crowns in the future. The municipalities´ budgets are not sufficient for the purchase of the land. Martin Vápeníková, spokesperson for Road and Motorway Directorate (RMD), on the other hand stated that they cannot buy anything until the zoning decision has been approved. “Until a decision has been made we can, in fact, do nothing,” she told the server.

The route of the northwest of the Prague ring-road, is not yet definitively clear. There are still two options in the game. One of them leads through Suchdol, the other a few kilometres further north. According to the server, Čonka bought the land to ensure that he will not stay behind in either case. He has plots, for example in Husinec, Lichoceves, Svrkyně, Noutonice, Tuchoměřice, Únětice as well as in Suchdol. Completion of the Prague ring-road has been postponed for now. The Ministry for Regional Development (MRD) has repealed the zoning decision for completion of the north-western part of the ring-road which was meant to intersect Suchdol. The chief health officer, Michael Vít, whose opinion was requested by MRD, opposed the construction of this section.