Prague, Dec 27 (CTK) – Czech Finance Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) would like a new neighbourhood for 11,000 government clerks to be built around the metro “C” line terminal in Prague-Letnany within a few years, dusting off an old plan to sell lucrative real estate in Prague centre, Pravo wrote yesterday.
It writes that the idea was tabled by previous governments already, but it has never begun to be implemented.
Babis told Pravo that “not only all 6715 clerks of the Finance Ministry and its subordinate organisations, but later also other ministries and offices could move there.”
He said people from his ministry and subordinate organisations now occupy 38 buildings spreading on an area of about 201,000 square metres, 76,000 metres of which are office spaces.
“The moving to one place would be also useful because we could use a lot of synergies – the offices would be at one place, communication and logistics would be more effective, we would economise on energies, the tidying up of rooms, private security services and a number of other fields,” Babis said.
He said this arrangement would be more comfortable not only for the employees, but also for visitors who would not have to be running around offices seated at different addresses in the capital, but they could use the metro to reach all of them.
“In Paris, they also have a tower block in which several ministries have their seats,” Babis said.
He said preliminary estimates put the cost of the new neighbourhood at six billion crowns. The project could be financed from the sale of the current buildings of the Finance Ministry, most of which are situated in lucrative places of Prague.
The Finance Ministry has its headquarters in the historical Lesser Town neighbourhood not far away from the seats of the two houses of parliament, the Chamber of Deputies and Senate.
“Prague is a very attractive place and it will be even more attractive. The Finance Ministry buildings could be sold for a very good price because they could be turned into flats or office spaces due to their position in the city centre,” Babis said.
