City Hall is downsizing the planned D-metro line before the project even has chance to get off the ground, iDnes.cz reports. According to the city’s new zoning plan, which is to come into effect in 2010, the D-line will not extend to Žižkov, Prague 3, and Libeň, Prague 12, as originally planned.
The city sections are not too pleased with these changes. The D-line metro, which was originally supposed to pass through Hlavní nádraží, will lead from Pankrác, to Novodvorsko, to Modřany and Písnice.
“In the case of Žižkov this is a serious problem because this is an interesting location with the Nákladové nádraží project. Its development will be tied to good transportation connections and the value of property prices could go down if there is no metro line,” said Zdeněk Fikar, head of the regional development department for Prague 3, in an interview with iDnes.cz
Prague 3 Mayor Milena Kozumplíková is also dissatisfied with the changes to the planned metro expansion.
“They have failed to take into account that in the next few years, we will get 70,000 new residents and about 30,000 more further down the road,” she told iDnes.cz, referring to the Nákladové nádraží residential development, the Central Park Praha project, as well as the planned apartments in Vackov.
It is possible that the D-line metro could split off into two branches in Prague 4. One would go to Písnice and the other to Modřany. But this plan has yet to be approved iDnes.cz writes. The final segment of the Písnice route would be above ground in order to cut construction costs.
