Ten thousand new flats per year should be constructed in Prague, two thousand will be built by the city
Pražská developerská společnost established by the Prague City Council has launched preparation of the first projects on municipal land. The largest projects are in the location of Palmovka and Nové Dvory.
Currently the organization is finishing identification of suitable land and starting negotiation about the projects in cooperation with the Prague Institute of Planning and Development. “Our vision is that approximately 10,000 flats should be built in Prague per year, while municipal construction should include about 2,000 of them,” said Petr Hlaváček, deputy mayor (TOP 09). He also adds that the city council is finishing a methodology according to which the individual municipal districts should negotiate with developers about their contributions to public budgets.
The deputy mayor mentions the largest identified land in the vicinity of Palmovka metro station, which is in the ownership of the Prague City Council, the Municipal District of Prague 8 and Dopravní podnik hlavního města Prahy. A smaller quarter with a park should be built there in the future. Other large plots are situated in the location where the new D metro line station of Nové Dvory is planned to be built. The deputy mayor says that a local centre with housing, shops and a house of culture should be constructed there. “These are two typical examples that have not yet been resolved for a long time,” says the deputy mayor.
He adds that in both cases changes in the urban development plan are being prepared and that specific investment projects including what will be built, for how much money and when it is going to be built on the land should be elaborated before the end of the parliamentary term in 2022. Besides, Pražská developerská společnost will deal with other municipal land, the list of which will be published by the city council soon, adds Hlaváček.
According to the deputy mayor during negotiations with developers, the city council started to use a newly elaborated methodology defining calculations of the contribution that companies should pay for the building of public infrastructure and facilities. The municipal districts often enter into agreements about similar contributions with companies, however, the methodology, which should be approved at the beginning of the new year, should provide a uniform framework. Nowadays, the agreements have no legal definition, but it should appear within a construction act under development in the form of a planning contract. The deputy mayor said that the solution of the city council complied with legislation.
The city has been coping with a housing crisis and rising housing prices. The role of Pražská developerská společnost should consist in the preparation of a concept of projects for socially useful purposes on municipal land and taking care of them throughout the approval process ending with the planning permit and a building permit. The implementation stage itself should be carried out in collaboration with the private sector, cooperatives or construction communities. The goal is to boost house building in the city and to accelerate the preparation of projects, which currently often takes more than ten years.
Pražská developerská společnost was established on June 1st and it is responsible for the preparation of municipal land for construction with a focus on housing, including coordination with private investors and municipal districts. Hlaváček said that the organization has eight employees and expects to have twenty of them during the following year.
