Prague - Czech state may go on with its plan to finish a motorway tunnel going through the Preserved Landscape Area (CHKO) České středohoří.
The designed tunnel is the last part of the unfinished project of the D8 motorway that would connect Prague and Ústí nad Labem and the border region with Germany.
The project was temporarily banned by the Prague municipal court in April this year. However, the Transport Ministry suuccessfully appealed against the decision.
Serious security risks
The court upheld the experts´ evidence proposed by the ministry. The ministry argued that "from the technical point of view to halt the construction works on the Prackovice tunnel would mean grave security and other risks."
Read more: Municipal Court bans motorway tunnel project
Another argument was that the majority of Ústí nad Labem region's inhabitants want the highway to be built, since it would ease current truck traffic the local municipalities suffer from.
Quarrel not concluded
Revoking the preliminary measure doesn't mean that the court´s ruling is final. It still has to handle a charge filed by a non-governmental environmental organization Děti Země (Children of the Earth).
The same organization muls filing an appeal with the Constitutional Court.
"We were not allowed to present our stand on the new arguments brought up by the Transport Ministry," Děti země´s Miroslav Patrik told Aktuálně.cz.
Patrik added that it has never happened before that one court would revoke its own preliminary ruling on an issue raised by the organization.
Compensation may be required
"I don't know what trick the ministry has managed to perform," stated Patrik.
The Ministry is now planning a counterblow.
"We will sum up the loss we suffered because of the suspension and we will consider further legal steps," Aktuálně.cz was informed by Transport Ministry spokesman Karel Hanzelka.
Although Hanzelka did not reveal any details, it is evident that the ministry may want the association to compensate the loss.
Additional charges
In spite of all the delays, the Transport Ministry still believes it will manage to open the last section of the D8 motorway by the end of 2010.
Nonetheless, there are other charges raised against the project, so its future remains somewhat uncertain.
