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Prague master plan is mired in politicsBy Richard Allen Greene Real estate interests beg for an end to squabbling and the finalization of the city plan In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Shortly thereafter, the city of Prague began revising its master plan. Prague is still working on it. The latest delay in the nine-year saga to replace the capital's communist-era master plan with a forward-looking development scheme comes as a result of objections filed by the minister of the environment, Milos Kuzvart of the Social Democrats (CSSD). All relevant ministries have the right to comment on the master plan, explained Petr Stepanek, a former press spokesman for the ministry. "Wherever a part of the plan falls under the jurisdiction of a ministry, the city has to have the approval of that ministry," he said. But the city twisted arms or worked around most ministries, he added. "The Environment Ministry was the only one not to be bypassed." The ministry objects to the location of planned highway construction, and to the rezoning of some farmland to allow for development. "We have to take environmental considerations into account," said Rita Gabrielova, press spokeswoman for the Ministry of the Environment. "There is an area [in the plan] where a new north-south highway would cross the center of Prague. We said no because we already have one highway running past the National Museum, dividing Wenceslas Square in two, and the traffic is so bad that everyone who goes there sees it was a 1970s communist mistake." The ministry also expressed concerns about attempts to reclassify some land. "The plan would change some agricultural areas into industrial areas," Gabrielova said. "We don't need hypermarkets encouraging everyone who needs something to take a car to go buy it." The Office of City Development (URM), which drafted the plan, predicted that the Environment Ministry's objections will set the approval procedure back anywhere from six months to three years. "The reworking of the master plan means a delay for a number of years," said Karel Hejtmanek, director of the URM. "It means new negotiations which, due to the new construction law valid from July 1, 1998, will be considerably more complicated and time-consuming [than the negotiations that led to the current version of the master plan.]" But Stepanek said there were never any negotiations worthy of the name when the URM was drafting this version of the plan. "There was mock communication after the plan was done," he said. "The URM got thousands of comments from the public, but never did anything with them." The Association of Real Estate Agents (ARK) supported Stepanek's allegation. "Of approximately 3,000 comments from owners of real estate which were submitted in response to the master plan, an insignificant number were accepted," the association said in an October open letter regarding the plan. "The rest were rejected with the formulaic statement that 'the suggested change is not consistent with the concept of the master plan.' " ARK, which represents more than 200 real estate brokers nationwide, expressed frustration in its public letter. The association accused the relevant authorities of becoming bogged down in political infighting. "In recent days, the debate about the proposed master plan has shifted from expert discussion to a political clash between the CSSD government and Prague City Hall," which is controlled by the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), the association said. The rhetoric on both sides lends credence to the association's claim. "The objections of the Ministry of the Environment are more or less declarations of their opinions which have no basis in law," said URM director Hejtmanek. He said the environment ministry had been unreasonable. "The city of Prague, represented by top members of the city government including [Mayor Jan] Koukal, initiated several meetings with the Ministry of the Environment and found practically no will on the part of the ministry to reach agreement," Hejtmanek said. "Koukal didn't take the districts into account when making the plan," Environment Ministry spokeswoman Gabrielova said. "He has a centralistic view of Prague. He doesn't care about villages around the city." Stepanek, who has returned to environmental activism since leaving the ministry, went even further. "The city of Prague has no right to plan on land of a different town or village, as they did in the case of the highway," he said. "Prague has no business putting that in its master plan." Meanwhile, ARK represents those caught in the middle. The association has publicly called for help from all quarters to extricate the plan from the morass. "We appeal to the business community and to the public to open up a public discussion which will lead to finalization of the master plan," ARK's statement said. "We appeal to foreign investors, developers and experts to start public debate about the degree of regulation ... We appeal to real estate and land owners to take action in order to protect their ownership rights ... We appeal to members of the Prague City Council to familiarize themselves with the investors' and developers' view of the issue." If relevant parties listen to the ARK appeal, the master plan could well finally find approval. But given the history of the plan so far, that's likely to take a good deal longer than the six days God took to create the heavens and the earth.
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