The region wants to have the roads stolen in the case of manipulated contracts rebuilt

The ordered analyzes were delivered to the region by specialist companies in February and March, followed by inspections to confirm the results. Altogether, it is about 150 pages of documents, which cost around 600,000 crowns.

Doubts about the quality of the roads were raised by the investigation of the National Center against Organized Crime (NCOZ), which is prosecuting thirteen people from the region for fraud with public contracts related to regional transport constructions.

The organized group consisted of entrepreneurs, politicians, people from the regional office, road administration and construction companies. The police launched an event called Autostrada last November.

The labs looked at three sections repaired at higher costs and three where contracted firms used a technology known as warm remix for reconstruction.

“Experts have proven errors in the construction layers of roads. Only one can be assumed that we will apply a claim in the form of a discount on the work,” Olomouc Region Governor Josef Suchánek (STAN, elected for the Pirates and STAN coalition) told journalists on Tuesday.

“The other violations are of a more significant nature, so we are going to apply a complaint procedure to the suppliers. We will demand from them a repair in the form of disassembly and a new composition,” he added. At the same time, he pointed out that not all types of tests came out wrong.

“The stress tests, which are key to assessing durability, mostly went well. Nevertheless, the experts assessed that the expected lifespan of the roads, which is 25 years by law, would be significantly shortened. Nevertheless, for everyone where a missing layer was found, we will apply the complaint in such a way as to avoid future problems,” outlined the governor.

The roughness of the roads varies greatly

The guarantee is for five years, and if, for example, problems were to appear in ten years, the regional road administration would already pay for the repair costs.

Suchánek wants to proceed as strictly as possible with complaints. “Suppliers have the option to reject our claims, regardless of whether an investigation has taken place. For us, partners are suppliers, not their employees. We can’t expect it to be as smooth as a shoe claim. Nevertheless, we intend to see it through,” he said.

With complaints, the region wants to rule out the possibility of having to return subsidies used for some buildings. The region has already handed over the documents to the NCOZ.

According to the Director of the Road Administration of the Olomouc Region, Ivo Černé, the only one of the tested sections repaired with the use of a warm remix, which will probably come out without comments, is the road from Hanušovice to Branná. In the case of the Trhavice – Libavá road, the deficiencies will probably be solved with only a small discount of up to ten thousand crowns.

The road from Velká Bystřice to Mrskles was the worst. “We will demand the repair of the work, as the connection of the layers did not work out. There is a big problem in the future. It is not possible to apply a discount on the work according to the quality conditions,” said Černý.

They messed around with construction and waste

Repairs using conventional methods have proven to be a mistake in the territory of Litovel during the construction of the Unčovice – Litovel section. At least one of the three stages of the repair of the Slatinice – Olomouc road is also problematic, in the Nedvězí – Hněvotín section, all the necessary layers were probably not laid.

“Also on the third-class road in Slatinky, it turned out that two layers of crushed aggregate are missing, cold recycling, there is no gravel on forty percent of the surface, and we did not discover geotextiles. We would like to achieve a total restoration of the building,” Černý summarized.

In addition, Slatinky is a case where an organized group invoiced the region for the disposal of hazardous waste, but did not dispose of it according to regulations. In the village, she probably stored it behind a retaining wall, which was a structure paid for by the village.

“They are two buildings. We built a sidewalk, public lighting, a retaining wall, and the county repaired the road and built sewerage, which we financed half of, as it partially drains our fields. We also paid for the project,” Mayor Monika Prokopová (no political affiliation) summed up for MF DNES in mid-April.

Prokopová suspects that the company stored tar from the old road under the mentioned wall. “Apart from the health aspect, they charged us for something they didn’t do. They put the sewage system in a place within three meters of two, and there they also robbed us of money,” added the mayor.

The governor’s office believes that if the claim is successful, damages in the order of tens of millions of crowns, which were discussed at the beginning of the investigation, will not be incurred. In addition, the region wants to add hundreds of thousands spent on analyzes to the burden of suppliers.

The sacked director continues to work on road management

According to the NCOZ, the group manipulated orders and rigged work at thirteen sections. However, according to information leaked from the files, she worked in the region for much longer than one election term. The region is thus considering whether to check other roads as well.

Apart from a reduced service life, drivers are not at risk when driving on tricked-out roads, according to Černý. The situation would be different in the case of bridges, but they were not covered by the contract, said the director.

Černý is the newly elected director of regional roads after the dismissed David Štěpánek, who was dismissed by the regional council due to allegations in the case. However, Štěpánek continues to work in a lower position among road workers, taking into account the restrictions set by the Labor Code. According to Černý, he is awaiting trial and wants to clean himself up.

Another accused employee of the road administration is Petr Všetička. According to Czech Television, for example, at the construction site in Slatinky, he did not fulfill his role when he listened to the representatives of the hired construction companies. As a reward for this, he received, for example, a trip to the Italian lake Lago di Garda and 400 thousand crowns in cash.

The official Svatava Špalková is also accused of being an employee of the region. She was in charge of public contracts, after which the director of the regional office moved her to tasks in the field of energy.

Former governor’s deputy for transport and Přerov councilor Michal Zácha and influential businessman from Přerov Robert Knobloch also face charges. Both were members of the ODS until they resigned, because of the case the party finally abolished the Přerov cell and is now trying to restore it.