Perhaps no new Czech law has been anticipated with such great hopes — both justified and idealistic — as the amended law on public tenders. The legislation aimed at cutting out corrupt practices from public contracts came into force on April 1. While the law is certainly a step in the right direction, as indicated by the rush to churn out tenders under the provisions of the old law before it expired, it is still far from ideal.

Despite the fact that stricter regulations governing Czech public tenders — aimed at stamping out corrupt practices — came into force on April 1, the old rules will continue to influence “the game” for some time yet. What’s more, it appears the new regulations are not completely resistant to manipulation. Czech Position tracks what went on with public tenders just before the April 1 deadline.

Almost a year has passed since the Prague 7 administration issued a tender for new premises. From 11 offers, two potential locations have been selected: part of PPF Group’s Argentine Star project, and Mercury Tower, belonging to the firm Argentinská 38. PPF is asking Kč 762 million; Mercury Tower’s is Kč 845 million. Regardless, Prague 7 doesn’t have the money, and controversial moves to raise it have run into trouble.

A tender to build the new track between Rokycany and Plzeň in western Bohemia is being billed as the largest rail infrastructure project in 20 years. Originally forecast to cost around Kč 10 billion, the Railway Infrastructure Administration (SŽDC) says it now expects offers even lower than Kč 7.5 billion. The new track will, however, only cut the journey time between Prague and Plzeň by six minutes.