Calls for Bém's ouster grow

Prague Mayor Pavel Bém is facing added pressure to resign his post after part of the Blanka Tunnel construction works collapsed for the third time in two years, leaving an injured construction worker in serious condition in the hospital.

Local experts lay the blame squarely on City Hall, saying the accidents are the result of poor decision-making.

"Prague politics has reached the bottom, and no one is ashamed anymore," said Václav Jandáček, an engineer and member of the preservation group Club for Ancient Prague. "People who have been in their positions for years have no moral right to remain there, but they will still muddy the waters until the municipal elections."

The Blanka Tunnel is to be a part of the Prague ring road system and is set to be more than 6,000 meters long. The latest accident July 6 follows repeated complaints from Prague citizens about the safety of the project and is the third time the tunnel has collapsed since 2008. It is estimated the construction of the tunnel will cost about 25.7 billion Kč ($1.3 billion).

"As a citizen, I can only wonder at what has been spent on the Blanka Tunnel construction, and one might wonder where the money went given the accidents at the construction site," said Josef Štulc, the main conservationist at the National Heritage Institute. "This tunnel will not improve the Prague environment; it only conducts the main traffic into the city center. One might wonder: We have the best engineers here in the Czech Republic, so how did this happen? Either there were big savings involved, or sloppy work."

The July incident caused a 15-meter crater and buried an excavator driver along with his machine. The man was released from hospital but then returned to intensive care, suffering a suspected embolism. In 2008, there were two accidents in Stromovka, with one creating a 20-meter crater in the public park.

 Despite the collapse, work on the tunnel has not halted, City Hall confirmed to The Prague Post.

Major excavation blasts took place July 9-13 shaking buildings in Prague 6 and 7.

''According to the Mining Authority, instruction work on tunnel excavation was stopped, but other works in other parts of the building can proceed," City Hall spokesman Jiří Wolf said.

Green Party representative Ondřej Mirovský also says Bém and his city councilors are to blame, saying they did nothing to prevent further accidents.

"Neither the two falls in Stromovka nor the serious inefficiency in the organization of the construction, identified by supervisors, led to new people being appointed or the punishment of those responsible," he said. "Are we waiting for someone to die in another accident?"

Bém, meanwhile, says the safety of Prague residents remains a primary goal.

"Our highest priority is the absolute safety of city residents," he said. "We do not want only information, but also a guarantee, and then we will be ready to continue this costly construction, which is unique in Europe and is being paid entirely from the budget of the city of Prague."

Bém added that investigations into the accident by the Mining Authority will take a few weeks, and he could not confirm whether the construction will be delayed.

"It is definitely not going to cost more, but all the costs associated with the tunnel collapse will be fully paid by the supplier, including the safety and remedy works," he said.

This is not the first time the mayor has been embroiled in controversy over costly public works. In May, an independent analysis of the OpenCard project - a chip card payment system designed to replace paper transport tickets - claimed City Hall lost 43 million Kč through the project.

The report, by nongovernmental group Oživení (Revival), also claimed City Hall bought outdated technology, failed to make sure technology firm Haguess paid fines for delayed services and sometimes paid twice for the same services.

In addition, city officials have faced criticism of their handling of the repairs to Charles Bridge since work began in August 2007.

In March this year, the Plzeň Regional Authority, which the Culture Ministry appointed as an independent adviser for the work, fined City Hall 3.25 million Kč for damaging the cultural value of bridge.

Bém also presided over an ill-fated bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. An estimated 100 million Kč was allocated for the bid, and financing continued for two years after Prague was officially eliminated as a host candidate.  

Despite the continued controversy, Jandáček is concerned that Bém and his councilors won't face retribution for this latest incident.

"Nobody will face criticism over the project," he said. "And OpenCard, the most expensive card in the world, will only be a joke in this whole Prague comedy. And Praguers? They are really foolish enough to elect people who will do the same stunts as they do today."

Bém, meanwhile, expressed his disapproval with the quality and content of materials supplied for Blanka by construction firm Metrostav, which declined to comment when approached by The Prague Post.

Members of Bém's own Civic Democratic Party (ODS) have been calling for his resignation since the May elections, when the ODS lost the Prague vote to the rival TOP 09 party. Bém promptly resigned his post as chairman of the ODS's Prague branch.

Bém was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in May.

- Klára Jiřičná contributed to this report.

Gabriella Hold can be reached at
ghold@praguepost.com