Czech government allows using private money to build railways
Public-private partnership (PPP) projects are to be used mainly for high-speed lines construction.
Last week the Czech government allowed the Ministry of Transport to use private funds in the construction of railways under PPP projects. The ministry will examine this option for the Prague Veleslavin – Prague Airport and Sevetin – Ceske Budejovice lines.
Transport Minister Martin Kupka has been talking about the possibility of using private funds to build the lines since he took office last year; he has not yet had the government’s approval to do so. Soaring costs of planned constructions are an incentive to consider PPP.
According to the latest estimates, the construction of the roughly 20-kilometer section from Sevetin to Ceske Budejovice, which will complete the entire modernisation of corridor 4, is expected to cost CZK 25 billion. This is a significant increase from the 11 billion in 2018 and 15 billion in 2020. Minister Kupka sees this as an opening, public-private partnership (PPP) projects should subsequently be used mainly in the construction of high-speed lines.
Edited and translated by Lucie Trávníčková.