Liberec will borrow funds for the construction of apartments that are intended to serve skiers

Liberec - Liberec will borrow 250 million crowns to construct 254 social apartments in Zelené Údolí. Before seniors move into the seven homes with care services, they will be used to accommodate participants of the World Championship in cross-country skiing, which will take place under Ještěd in February 2009. The town hall secured 200 million crowns for their construction from the Ministry of Education as part of increased funds for the preparation of the skiing championship. However, further financing must be ensured by the city. The project costs will reach 450 million crowns.
The town hall originally applied for a subsidy from the Ministry of Regional Development (MMR) for the construction, but was unsuccessful. This year, the ministry had to limit support for municipalities for the construction of social apartments to 200,000 euros (approximately 5.6 million crowns) for a single recipient over three years. A larger amount of money was deemed unauthorized public support by the European Commission. The 200,000 euro limit applies to housing subsidies from all authorities; besides MMR, social apartments are also subsidized by the State Housing Development Fund.
New apartments will be built in Zelené Údolí, where infrastructure for the construction of 1540 apartments was prepared in the mid-90s. Currently, around a thousand stand there, with more under construction. Liberec has approximately 380 apartments in homes with care services, but the need for social apartments, especially for seniors and disabled people, is much greater. The last homes with care services were completed more than three years ago and are fully occupied. The city is processing several hundred applications. "This is the last chance to build social apartments with some support," emphasized Mayor Jiří Kittner at today's council meeting.
The town hall itself was not able to implement the demanding project, so the mayor welcomed the increase in funds for the championship preparation, even though it means further indebtedness for the city. The repayment of the loan will be secured by rental income. The apartments in Zelené Údolí are not the only accommodation for championship participants. Primarily, athletes will stay in university dormitories in Harcov. The Technical University received 280 million crowns from the Ministry of Education for the reconstruction of six blocks with a capacity of 2550 beds. As part of the modernization, new communications, parking lots, and a university club will also be created by next autumn.
The city of Liberec, with a population of 100,000, has a budget this year of 1.85 billion crowns. At the end of last year, its official debt reached nearly 1.24 billion, which represented a debt of 4558 crowns per inhabitant. According to an analysis by Czech Credit Bureau (CCB), which deals with local government finances, the actual debt was 2.16 billion. Each resident was attributed a debt of 22,000 crowns, making Liberec the second most indebted regional city after Brno. CCB does not only assess official loans; its measure of indebtedness is the sum of external resources, which include reserves, long-term and short-term liabilities, and repayable financial assistance.