Children of the Earth filed a lawsuit against the building permit for D1 near Přerov

The environmental association Děti Země has filed a lawsuit against the building permit issued for the last section of the D1 motorway near Přerov, the construction of which was started at the end of last year after many years of preparation and disputes, according to the announcement of the Ostrava Regional Court, which was published yesterday on the official board of the Ministry of Transport. "There is a formal lawsuit (in court) and we are completing it. We have until Friday," said Miroslav Patrik, chairman of the Děti Země association, and he plans to publish details of the contents of the lawsuit at the beginning of next week.

The D1 motorway now ends on the outskirts of Přerov and the last ten-kilometre section to Říkovice is to solve the long-standing bad traffic situation in the town. The environmental exemption for the construction expired the autumn before last. The Ministry of Transport issued the building permit on time, but received seven appeals. They were filed by four people and by the associations Krajina Dluhonice, Voda z Tetčic and Děti Země - Klub za udržitelního dopravy. At the end of last year, Transport Minister Martin Kupka (ODS) added several conditions to the building permit in his decision on the appeals.

The motorway section near Přerov is being built by a consortium of Strabag, Doprastav and IDS Olomouc at a cost of CZK 6.922 billion. According to Radek Mátl, the director of the Road and Motorway Directorate, the construction of D1 near Přerov is to last 39 months, so the commissioning date is March 2026. According to Mátl, the preparation of the construction was extremely complicated and ranks among the most complicated in the Czech Republic. At the end of last year, ŘSD had to conclude the last ten purchase contracts for properties in the vicinity of the route, which will total 929. In several cases, the expropriation process has been initiated.

The construction of the D1 motorway in the Czech Republic began 55 years ago, with the last section near Přerov being the subject of disputes, debates and plans for the last 17 years. The 10-kilometre section of D1 is the last section missing to complete the motorway from Prague via Brno to Ostrava and the Polish border.

D1 is the oldest and longest Czech motorway. Its history dates back to the 1930s. However, the first continuous section of D1 from Prague to Mirošovice was not opened until 1971. The extensive eight-year reconstruction of D1 ended last October.

Source: Děti Země and CTK