Prague, Aug 22 (CTK) – Prague plans to renew the Rohan Island in the city centre, which was an island from the 16th until the early 20th century, by building a water canal to separate the area from the right bank of the Vltava River again, daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) wrote on Tuesday.
The area is one of the last parts of the otherwise generously reconstructed Karlin neighbourhood to be left devastated since the disastrous floods in 2002.
According to the City Hall, a canal should be dug to form a new island as a place for relaxation and recreation, and blocs of flats for about 4,000 people should be built on the adjacent right bank, MfD writes.
A part of the flats is to be built by a private developer, and further blocs by the City Hall, which sold out a number of municipal flats in recent years and wants to build new ones to be able to offer cheap housing to seniors, young people and families, rescuers, teachers and other civil servants, the paper writes.
The local concrete mixing plant would be closed down in order not to bother the new residents, it writes.
Simultaneously, a park with sport grounds, meadows and various water elements such as fountains will be arranged on the renewed island.
The canal separating it from the river bank will not only offer recreation opportunities but also cool the area. In addition, it will have an anti-flood effect, city councillor Jana Plaminkova told the daily.
The Rohan Island was created by river sediments near the Vltava’s right bank in the 16th century. It ceased to exist at the beginning of the 20th century when the city united it with a nearby Liben Island and both were connected with the right bank.
It is named after Josef Rohan, former Prague carpenter and councillor who owned the island in the past.
