The leadership of the Přerov town hall is leaving the fate of
the Romani locality on Škodova street up to local councilors to decide.
The town’s political leadership says they will demand that Přerov back
out of a sales contract with the owner of properties in the locality
because the conditions of the sale were not met. Town councilors should
decide whether the Romani residents still remaining in the half-ruined
buildings should be awarded municipally-owned apartments even though
they are not the next in line for them and other applicants have been
waiting a longer time. The town council will convene at the start of
November.
Councilors adopted no resolutions on the issue at their most
recent session. "The material is heading to the council – the situation
is still developing. Representatives of the firm, however, have not yet
brought us anything new. If they don’t present some sort of breathtaking
new proposal to us, then I will propose we withdraw from the contract. I
have the power to submit such a proposal directly to the municipal
council without having the board discuss it first. After that, the
councilors would have to approve it," Deputy Mayor Michal Zácha (Civic
Democrats – ODS) told the Czech Press Agency.
The councilors will have to decide the fate of the locality’s
residents. There are 10 Romani families, estimated at between 50 and 100
people, still living on Škodova street in the half-ruined buildings.
Councilors agreed at their last session that the town would take care of
the tenants on the condition that they are not in debt to the
municipality and are in possession of valid leases. The town leadership
has already found the Romani residents other apartments in Kojetínská
and Husova streets. "There are some debtors among them, but it is
possible they will pay off their debt to the council," Zácha added.
The opposition is expecting a stormy discussion of the issue at the
next town council, during which it plans to point out that the town has
made mistakes from the start with the locality. "The town was harmed by
the decision taken by the councilors in office at the time when they
voted in favor of something so obviously disadvantageous. When the
contract was violated by the purchaser, the town failed to take action
while the contract was still valid," says councilor Richard Šlechta of
the Společně pro Přerov ("Together for Přerov") coalition.
The town sold the apartment complex on Škodova street for CZK 1.5
million in 2007 to the Immofin firm, which later changed its name to
Opera Bohemia. In the purchase agreement, the investor pledged to
rebuild the Romani ghetto into an attractive area. Multifunctional
buildings were meant to be erected there. However, some of the
half-ruined buildings and their original residents still remain at the
site. The deadline by which the investor was to have initiated
construction expired last September.
The town can fine the firm CZK 500 000 for not fulfilling the terms
of the purchase agreement. However, it will also have to deal with the
fact that another firm, Remedies, loaned Immofin/Opera Bohemia CZK 7
million to demolish the existing buildings and now has a lien on the
plots. Should the town take the land back, it would also assume that
debt. Town representatives say the dispute will evidently end up in the
courts.
