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Auditing operation No. 04/26

The construction of the road circuit around the Prague capital city

The auditing operation was included in the Annual Audit Plan of the Supreme Audit Office (hereinafter referred to as “SAO”) for the year 2004 under No. 04/26. The auditing operation was managed and audit conclusion drawn up by Mr. Jiří Adámek, the Member of the SAO.

The aim of the audit was to examine the management of the funds earmarked for the preparation and the construction of the road circuit around the Prague capital city.

The audited period covered the years from 2002 till the conclusion of the audit, as well as previous periods in case of relevant connections.

The audited bodies were the Ministry of Transport (hereinafter referred to as “MT”), the State Fund of Transport Infrastructure (hereinafter referred to as “SFTI”) and the Road and Motorway Directorate of the Czech Republic (hereinafter referred to as “RMD”).

The audit was focused on the construction of the traffic circuit around the Prague capital city whose investment need according to the MT information in ISPROFIN presents CZK 47,403 million. Regarding the degree of completion of the circuit construction, mainly the preparatory phase was audited. In the framework of the audited constructions, funds totalling CZK 3,325 million were examined.

The preparation process, as concerns the selection of the circuit direction alternatives, was negatively influenced by the fact that the state took over the preparation and the financing of the construction from the Prague capital city in 1994, while the routing of the circuit should have been set by the Ministry for Regional Development in cooperation with the Prague capital city in the framework of the ground plan of the Prague region territorial unit. Thus, the MT and the RMD had limited possibilities to influence the selection of the circuit routing.

The RMD was preparing for the implementation the alternative approved or presumed in the ground plan. Socioeconomic surveys were not the basis for the selection of the circuit routing. They served only for the evaluation and decision taking in the framework of separate circuit constructions. Moreover, neither the MT nor the RMD ensured unified and objective processing of these surveys.

The insufficient coordination between the state and local authorities becomes evident also in connection with the construction of the necessary communications, mainly local, whose investor is not the RMD. In case these communications are not completed simultaneously with the circuit around Prague, there is a risk that the traffic burdening low-capacity communication network of Prague and Central Bohemia region will not be transferred to the circuit and presumed savings in expenditures of administrators and users of these communications will not be effected. Apart from that, a traffic congestion of some local communications may occur.

The RMD has unreasonably high authority in decision taking concerning the technical solutions of construction objects of the circuit construction, which significantly influences the investment demands of the work. Cases mentioned in the audit conclusion show, that possible savings from technical solution optimisation may by significant. These findings show that for selected investment demanding constructions and construction objects it would be advisable to carry out an independent confrontation of proposed technical solutions, ensured by other organization than the RMD.

Another shortcomings, negatively influencing the economy of the construction of the circuit around Prague were found:

• The MT was not properly carrying out the management, the control and the methodical activity of the administrator of the circuit construction programs, above all it did not stipulate the technically-economic and time parameters of the constructions for the investor (the RMD). In connection with that a persisting problem emerged: the construction is financed from the SFTI funds that are not subject to the regulations of the programme financing set by decree No. 40/2001 Coll.
• The crucial parameter of the constructions (length in km) listed in the documentation of the circuit construction programs is not sufficient for assessing the fulfilment of the material objectives of the circuit construction.
• The preparation of individual segments of the circuit did not proceed as previously presumed. Foremost, owing to changes, completions and updating of respective documentation, often caused by demands of participants of the area proceedings and their appeals, but also by the shortcomings in the construction preparations, the deadline of the circuit realization was repeatedly postponed (from 2008 to 2012) and the investment costs were rising (from CZK 38.9 billion to CZK 47.4 billion, RMD already presumes the increase up to CZK 52.8 billion).
• The investment need listed in ISPROFIN did not correspond with current data in pre-investment studies for four constructions. Thus, the funds for their financing, amounting to CZK 11.1 billion are not secured.