Kc Price Minister

All systems go for ELI super laser – apart from huge gap in land price

At stake are hundreds of millions of crowns and the “pearl” of Czech science. At an estimated cost of Kč 6.7 billion, the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) will be built in Dolní Břežany, with the price of the land beneath it one of the few sticking points.

European Union funds were meant to cover the costs in full. The Institute of Physics (FZÚ) at the Czech Academy of Sciences (AV ČR), the recipient of the grant, derived the land purchase price — initially at some Kč 3,762 per square meter — based on an assessment by the firm Montekal, and a deal was agreed with the current landowner, the Archbishopric of Prague.

However, the Education Ministry (MŠMT) later ordered its own evaluation, carried out by YBN Consult and the president of the Czech Association of Property Valuers, Bedřich Malý, which assessed its value at Kč 1,000/sq m. Given the size of the plot in question, it’s an appreciable difference. In the first phase of the project, ELI will require 40,618 sq m and in the second phase 34,367 sq m, and for related, small scientific projects 9,573 sq m. All together, according to Montekal’s review, the cost will reach Kč 283.2 million.

The AV ČR and MŠMT failed to find middle ground, so to speak, and so did not arrive at a figure as for what to deduct from the European Union funds. This resulted in a third “conciliatory” evaluation by the University of Economics in Prague (VŠE) , which arrived at a figure some Kč 2,300 higher than had the second appraisal, but did not resolve the problem.

The European Union would not pay the full price of the land as assessed by the first review at which according to the contract the FZÚ must buy the lots from the Archbishopric of Prague and went with the third assessment by the VŠE. Even after all the corrections, the AV ČR is still short Kč 100.15 million.

After an attempt to commission a fourth (even “more suitable”) review, which the EU resolutely called off, the ministry took another route. Last week, Education Minister Josef Dobeš (Public Affairs, VV) said “nothing now stands in the way of buying the plot” and he has “no doubts about the successful realization” of the ELI super laser project. But is everything truly resolved?

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