Eighteen Czech non-governmental organisations have sent a letter to Philippe Maystadt, president of the European Investment Bank (EIB), [1] informing him of several problematic aspects involved in planned high-speed roads and the extension of a motorway in the Czech region of south Moravia. The Czech Ministry of Transport is requesting a multi-million euro loan from the EIB in order to implement the controversial projects. The NGOs have requested that the EIB should not support the projects before there has been an objective assessment of their effects on human health and the environment, including sufficient consideration of less damaging alternative routes.

There have been long-term protests against all of these proposals by Czech citizens, associations, and municipal communities who are threatened by the consequences of the development of the highways. A petition against the proposed R43 high-speed route, presented in May to the chairman of the Czech Senate, was signed by more than 35,000 citizens. Several suits have been filed against the positive statements of the Czech Ministry of Environment concerning the effects of the extension of the D1 motorway and the construction of the high-speed R52 road. [2]

The EIB is committed to supporting only those projects that are in line with EU environmental law and policies. [3] According to Pavel Černý of Environmental Law Service, a public interest legal organisation based in Brno, the permission procedures for all three road projects fail to comply with European legislation. 

“The cumulative impacts of these projects on the environment, which would be expected to substantially affect human health and the environment, have just not been taken into account. The planned variants of the R43 road contradict a decision of the EU Council, which forbids passing this type of highway through the centre of a densely populated area. [4] By not considering an alternative connection from Brno to Vienna, the planners are violating the EU directives on the protection of Natura 2000 territories.  What’s more, there has so far been no consultation with Austria relating to the R52 road’s transboundary impacts,” said Pavel Černý.

For more information, contact:

Pavel Černý
Environmental Law Service
Brno, Czech Republic
Tel: +420 545 575 229; mobile: +420 776 119 903
Email: brno_at_eps.cz
http://www.eps.cz

Notes for editors:


2.  The current transport intensity on the D1 motorway, which connects Prague and Brno, already in areas on the southern edge of Brno exceeds the legal limits for noise and the emission of air pollutants (micro-particles) To date there have been no protective measures taken. The planned intersection of the high-speed R43 road with the D1 motorway at the village of Troubsko would result in the entire neighbouring territory becoming virtually uninhabitable. These facts were not taken into account in the approval statement made by the Czech environment ministry in February 2005.

The main reason for the opposition of the public towards the R43 road is because the proposed route passes through the centre of the Brno-Bystrc district as well as recreation areas in the vicinity of Brno’s dam.

Opponents of the construction of the high-speed R52 road maintain that a high-speed connection between Brno and Vienna can be achieved using the existing D2 motorway, located just a few kilometres east of the planned R52 corridor, together with a planned bypass road at Breclav. This would prevent futile damage to the unique countryside of the Palava hills, as well as the diversion of traffic through the UNESCO reservation of Lednice-Valtice.

3. Details on the EIB's website.

4. Decision No 1692/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 1996 on Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network