Arctic Exhibit’s Contractor Known

On Tuesday 14 January, a contract was signed between Prague Zoo and Metrostav DIZ s r. o., which won the tender to construct the Arctic exhibition complex, all at a significantly lower price than was budgeted for. The assumed budget, including VAT, amounted to CZK 1,023,297,000, while the tendered price was CZK 755,025,000.

Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo’s director, said, “Eight other companies entered the tender, but the offer from Metrostav DIZ was the best. We are planning to hand over the construction site on 22 January, however, we will lay the foundation-stone on a day that marks the opening of the main season, i.e. on the last Saturday in March. Visitors will be in for a great surprise on that day.”
The construction of the Arctic exhibit will enable Prague Zoo to continue its long tradition of keeping polar bears and help to make it even more attractive to visitors.
Visualization of the Arctic exhibition complex. Source Prague Zoo
Lukáš Divoký, Prague Zoo’ deputy for investment, said “The total cost of the project was set at CZK 1,200 million. This amount includes not only the construction itself, but also the costs for all the project documentation, removing the original structures, surveys, technical supervision and other related work. The exact budgeted amount in the tender procedure was CZK 1,023,297,000.00 including VAT. I believe that the first reason why the tendered price is lower than expected is that there was a real reduction in the price of both construction materials and work compared to the time when the project’s budget was created; prices in the URS 2023 02 system were affected by fluctuations due to the war in Ukraine. The second reason is that the firms showed a great deal of interest in taking on such a prestigious construction project.”
Visualization of the Arctic exhibition complex. Source Prague Zoo
The Arctic complex will cover an area of more than eight thousand square metres and, in addition to the large areas set aside for the polar bears, it will also include pools and facilities for harbour seals and a restaurant. Its construction is scheduled to take three and a half years.
Visualization of the Arctic exhibition complex. Source Prague Zoo
Smiling broadly, Prague's Deputy Mayor for the Environment and Climate Plan, Jana Komrsková, said, “When choosing the contractor for the Arctic project, Prague Zoo has once again shown us that it is an excellent contributory organization that does not shy away from a demanding project worth hundreds of millions of crowns. It is not often in Prague that tenders for such large municipal contracts run so smoothly and even come significantly cheaper than originally estimated. I am very grateful to Director Bobek and his entire team for their excellent work for Prague, its citizens and, of course, for the polar bears.”
Visualization of the Arctic exhibition complex. Source Prague Zoo
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