Compact archive August 28, 2007

Privatization of major Czech state companies

Tuesday 28 August 2007 18:05

Czech government plans to privatize important companies such as Budvar, Prague Airport, Czech Airlines (CSA) and a part of the Czech Post. Also privatization of CEZ, the big power company, is considered.

7% of CEZ shares will be sold already this year, to gain 31 milliards CZK for building motorways and repairing roads. Privatization of the other companies is now prepared by the Ministry of Finance.

In case of Budvar company, producing the famous beer, there will be some special conditions, such as using the traditional technology. In privatization of the Prague Airport Ruzyne, there will be probably a minimum price set by the government.

Poor information system of Prague public transport

Tuesday 28 August 2007 16:10

Prague trams Compared to public transport in London or Paris, passengers in Prague don´t get enough information about the public transport system. There are no leaflets with maps of metro, for instance, or with tariff rates. Prague Public Transit plans to improve this.

The leaflets should be available in the information centres and at the metro stations. They will be probably in Czech, English, German and Russian language.

Another improvement will be the information boards, providing information on the arrival of trams and buses. This information will be also sent to mobile phones in the future: a passenger will send a question to the dispatching centre and he will receive an automatic reply.

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Large golf course will be built in Prague - Vinor

Tuesday 28 August 2007 14:08

Golf course The largest golf course in Prague will be built in the Vinor district (Prague 9) in two years. It will be 100 ha large and there will be 27 holes. The existing four golf courses in Prague have all just 9 holes.

The golf area in Vinor will be planted with trees and there will be artificial lakes. Other attractions are the near castles Ctenice, Vinor and Jenstejn. Vinor district is situated on the north-east outskirt of Prague.

Golf is becoming more and more popular in the Czech Republic. At the present time, you can play golf for example in Hodkovicky district, Kosire, Kbely or on the Rohansky Island under the Libensky bridge in Prague.

Imperial Hotel Prague opens again

Tuesday 28 August 2007 11:53

Imperial Hotel interior Imperial Hotel in the centre of Prague (Na Porici Street), a valuable Art Deco building, has been reconstructed. The hotel, built between 1913 and 1914, was closed to the public for tens of years, now it will open again together with the famous café.

There are Art Nouveau mosaics with Cubist features inside the hotel, especially the café has a splendid decoration. These features were not affected by the reconstruction.

Several old hotels from the beginning of the 20 th century were reconstructed and opened again in Prague in recent years. For example, it is the Alcron Hotel or Adria Hotel. Some reconstructions, however, afflicted the historical value of the buildings – that´s the case of, for example, Palace Hotel or Savoy Hotel. Both these reconstructions were planned during Communism years.

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Prague maps for blind people

Tuesday 28 August 2007 10:02

It will soon be easier for blind people to orientate themselves in Prague. The city council has made special plastic maps with miniatures of important buildings and places. There are also names of streets, parks and metro stations in Braille on the maps.

The whole project should be finished at the end of the year 2007. There will be a map of the whole city, a map of the historical city reserve in Prague and maps of some parts of the reserve. 60 maps will be made altogether and they will be available to the public in the information centres, schools and libraries.

The written commentary will be in English too, so the maps will be useful also for blind tourists. They can also use the book The Royal Route, released in June 2007, which gives information on 19 important buildings in Prague in Braille.

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