Risks of the R52 and R55 motorways’ procurements analyzed
Press Release – July 1, 2009
From August 2008 to March 2009, auditors from the Supreme Audit Office (SAO) focused on the effectiveness of investments in the planned construction of a direct connection of Brno and Vienna via the R52 motorway. Among the audited bodies were the Ministry of Regional Development, the Ministry of Environment, the Road and Motorway Directorate of the Czech Republic, and the State Fund of Transport Infrastructure. Risk assessment analyses of the projects’ funding by means of the Operational Programme Transport showed that financial allocations for procurements of motorways R52 or R55 would be used for risky investment ventures.
“The environmental impact analysis was performed poorly as well as the analysis of the likely alternatives of the direct connection from Brno to Vienna, which could exploit the existing road-traffic infrastructure“, said president of the SAO František Dohnal.
The construction of the direct connection from Brno to Vienna was influenced by the fact that current social and economic developments in Central Europe have contrasted with the initial expectation, which resulted from the TINA process. Austrians have been planning to construct S8 motorway in the direction from Vienna to Krakow via Slovakia and S3 motorway in the direction from Vienna to Prague via Znojmo. These motorways will significantly de-escalate the traffic volume, and eminently cut back the frequency of transport in the cross-border stretch of the R52 motorway from Mikulov to Drasenhofen in Austria.
The routes would lead through the Pálava Protected Landscape Area and through the Cultural Landscape of Lednice-Valtice thus affecting the environment adversely. If the R55 and R52 motorways lead through the area that is worth protection, fewer tourists would be visiting and the motorways would bring further risks to the cultural and natural property that has already drawn a lot of finances from the state budget and from the EU funds.
“The internal traffic intensity points to a little demand to procure the direct connection from Brno to Vienna. This fact had already been concluded during audit operation No. 06/36. The construction project of the R52 motorway would not guarantee any future efficient and economical financial spending in spite its preference in the frame of European transport network. We must also take into consideration the fact that the existing district road No. 52 was reconstructed in 1995. Its technical conditions correspond with the actual traffic intensity and the road will satisfy the expectant needs minimally till 2020”, said Dohnal.
Ministry of Transport has marginalized the Best Practice concept that requires for public procurement preparation stages to provide for such documentations, which would help to cut back investment risks of the government decisions and prevent from any negative social or economic incidences. Following the 1998 TINA process, the Ministry failed to perform a continuous assessment of the R52 and its necessity for an efficient establishing of the TEN-T and let the Austrian party perform all initiative motions that led to the most extreme solution as seen from the Czech Republic’s point of view. The insufficient conceptual preparation stage of the direct connection from Brno to Vienna that followed from the Ministry’s inactiveness has jeopardized the EU funds co-financing (CZK 7 milliard).
The auditing operation was included into the 2008 Audit Plan of the SAO under No. 08/26. Petr Skála, Member of the SAO Board, controlled the operation and prepared the audit conclusion as well.
Bc. Radka Burketová
Press Speaker
Supreme Audit Office