Completion of the Elbe canal postponed for more than 10 years

Press Release – January 26, 2009


Auditors from the Supreme Audit Office (SAO) performed an audit focused on development and modernisation of the inland waterways on the River Elbe that have already cost about CZK 3.6 milliard and have been financed by the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure, from the state budget, and from the EU funds. The audit report pointed out that the efficiency and purposefulness of the expended financial resources were affected by insufficiencies.

The auditors targeted 14 investments, which drew overall CZK 962 million from 2005 till the end of 2008. “In the conceptual documents, the Ministry of Transport did not define exact terms, including the range of activities, financial requirements, or implementation schedules. As for the Elbe canal completion, the ministry’s financial claims lacked the demonstrability, the efficiency assessments kept in with unattested documents and conditions, which later contradistinguished from the initial data“, said František Dohnal, president of the SAO.

From 1996 to 2007, the accomplishing dates for the Elbe canal were advanced to 2015, as the necessary arrangements and building permissions were missing. Two key parts along the course of the canal, „Stupeň Přelouč II“ and „Plavební stupeň Děčín“, could not be finalized in time for achievements of the related investments.

One of the audited bodies was the Waterway Directorate of the Czech Republic (WDCR). “The price of one investment grossed up by 19 % because of additional works worth CZK 18 million. A work for CZK 10.1 million was contracted although the order did not satisfy conditions defined by the law of public order placement. WDCR made a contract when the necessary approvals had not been obtained, so the contractor could not implement the work. But WDCR did not suit contractual relations with the provider in spite the render performance failure lasted for 22 months. For some time, one of the audited investment ventures lacked a definite engineering solution for some time, thus the expenditures rose by 366 % to CZK 915 million and the realisation was put back until 2 years after the originally supposed term. But its completion conditions the initially estimated achievements of other investments in 2007 and 2008, which cost over CZK 232 million“, said Dohnal.

The auditing operation was included into the 2008 Audit Plan of the SAO under No. 08/19. Jiří Adámek, Member of the SAO Board, controlled the operation and drew up the audit report as well.

Radka Burketová
Press Speaker
Supreme Audit Office

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