CTP Invest wants to claim damages of 20 million CZK through a lawsuit in Hradec Králové

photo: www.hradeckralove.org

Hradec Králové - The development company CTP Invest has filed a lawsuit against the city of Hradec Králové for compensation of damages amounting to 20.1 million crowns. The company claims that the city's actions regarding the acquisition of additional permits for the unfinished commercial park in Hradec Králové have caused it harm. CTP Invest consultant Boris Kudláček informed ČTK about the lawsuit filing. With the latest lawsuit submitted to the Hradec Králové District Court, CTP has followed up on a pre-litigation request it sent to the city in January. According to Mayor Zdeněk Fink (HDK), the city has not engaged in any illegal activities. However, he stated that transferring the dispute to court poses a financial threat to the city.

Deputy Mayor of Hradec Králové Jindřich Vedlich (TOP 09) described the lawsuit as pressure on the city. "I will not be intimidated personally. My opinion remains the same, which is not to grant the company consent for traffic connection. The wrongdoing is not on the city's side, but on CTP's part, which has violated everything it could," Vedlich told ČTK.

The amount of damages, according to Kudláček, results from the delays in the project so far. If the project were not completed at all due to the city's actions, the damages would rise to 220 million crowns, according to CTP. Kudláček stated that CTP is still ready to negotiate a settlement. If the city allowed the company to connect the park to the road, the company would withdraw the lawsuit and abandon its claims.

Fink stated in January that if there was a willingness among the council groups, the matter could be discussed at the council meeting at the end of February. However, that has not yet happened.

The mayor intends to intervene in the matter. "In light of the fact that CTP Invest will likely serve the area with traffic from the other side, complete it, and make it operational, I am considering bringing the matter back to the council for a vote if no other council member does so," Fink stated in a press release this evening. The council last discussed the agreement for settlement with CTP in October last year when it was rejected.

The company CTP Invest began constructing a warehouse complex near the exit from Hradec to Ostrava in the fall of 2014 without a building permit. Work has been halted since March 2015. The company has not yet obtained an additional building permit from the authorities because it does not have the city's consent to build an access road to the park over municipal land. At the same time, CTP Invest is working on connecting the area to the road from the opposite side, thus avoiding the need for municipal land.

The unsecured connection of the area to the road was the reason the building authority rejected the company’s application for an additional building permit in December last year. The company appealed, and the regional office will address it.

CTP emphasizes in the dispute that in 2015, the city revoked its previous approvals for road construction, which were granted to the company Fato in 2007, which had plans to build in the area. CTP took over the project from Fato in 2014 and describes the later revocation of approvals as the city's unequal treatment. The city hall claims it had the right to revoke the approvals because they were time-limited, among other reasons, and their validity has expired.

CTP nearly completed the first hall before the construction was halted, and the second hall was at the beginning of construction. The company has so far invested 270 million crowns, and has paid approximately 1.3 million crowns in fines for construction without a permit.