Tis u Blatna, West Bohemia, July 22 (CTK) – The opening of a refugee detention centre in Balkova, west Bohemia, will cost between 40 and 50 million crowns, Deputy Interior Minister Jiri Novacek said yesterday, adding that the reconstruction of the centre for 210 refugees will last until mid-2016.
Novacek was speaking to CTK after meeting the mayors of seven towns in the surroundings of Balkova, which is an abandoned village that is a part of the Tis u Blatna village now.
He said it has not yet been decided whether the tight security facility will accept first migrants.
In any case, the Interior Ministry wants to have the facility prepared as a reserve, Novacek said.
“The government only decided on creating a reserve capacity and its preparation…It has not yet decided on whether the facility will really be put into operation,” he said.
The money for the reconstruction will be earmarked within the ministry’s 2016 budget, but the sum will be specified during the budget bill debates this year, Novacek continued.
The Balkova centre, if opened, would be guarded by 140 wardens, including 80 police and 60 staffers from the Refugee Facilities Administration.
The Tis u Blatna police would be reinforced by another 15 or 20 officers.
“It would be a detention facility for foreigners to stay before being expelled [from the Czech Republic]. It would not enable their free movement and they would stay there only until their departure from our country,” Novacek said.
($1=24.908 crowns)
