Road and Motorway Directorate of the Czech Republic is regularly being criticized for insufficient pace in the construction of motorways in the Czech Republic. To a large extent, the main source of delays results from complicated negotiations with land holders who are supported by inefficient legislative. "Purchase of land in an area where the state decided to build a motorway means for us long and demanding negotiations. Construction of a motorway cannot begin in the relevant location, unless RMD CR reached a complete agreement with the land holder. When the owner decides - from any reason - not to sell his land, the construction may be postponed by several months, or even years," said Petr Laušman, Managing Director of Road and Motorway Directorate of the Czech republic.

According to RMD CR, during each construction there appear problematic owners who refuse to enter into the contract of sale and thus delay the time for application for the building permit. This concerns mainly three areas that hinder property rights preparation. "The first area represents the height of compensation for the land, in other words the purchase price. In accordance with valid legislation, this price must be set according to the valid price regulation," adds Petr Laušman. Determining the price depends on the locality of the land, under which cadastral area the land belongs and how many inhabitants live in the community. "From this reason some land holders feel injured because they have been offered a price of e.g. 63, - CZK/m2, whereas the owner of the neighbouring estate may be offered the price of 480, - CZK/m2. This may happen because lands of the first holder may belong under a community with less than 1000 inhabitants, whereas the lands of the second owner belong under a community with a large number of inhabitants," Petr Laušman explains.

It is also very difficult to explain this difference to the owner because before the motorway will have been built, both areas are used in the same way - to grow the same crop, for example. "For instance, in cadastral area Vlčkovice u Praskačky, the price is set to 63, - CZK/m2. The price in neighbouring cadastral area Plačice is 480, - CZK/m2 because it is a part of Hradec Králové. In such cases, upon the request of the land holder, RMD CR applies through the Ministry of Transportation of CR for a request of previous consent with a higher purchase price at the Ministry of Finances of CR. Consent with a higher purchase price is, however, usually not granted because there cannot be proved a public interest in a fact that one of the land holders in the given cadastral area should receive higher purchase price than other owners. Then it is necessary to use relevant regulations of the Building Act and proceed to expropriation proceedings," says Petr Laušman.

Requirement for the exchange of land presents a second problem. RMD CR is a state allowance organization and as such does not, in accordance with the law, own any land of its own, which could be exchanged with land holders affected by motorway construction. That is why RMD must discuss any such requirement with an organization designated to control land in state possession. But even in such a case, the negotiations tend to be complicated and long.

The third problem is an ownership of landed estate of a small area by, for instance, 97 land holders (that is a specific case which occured during the construction of Motorway D5 - by-pass of Plzeň), or by 67 land holders (construction of Motorway D11 near Hradec Králové). Some owners, in order either to delay the construction of motorways or to create space for the exercise and subsequent exacting of their requests, sometimes sell one of their landed estates to a high number of persons for a symbolic price. Those persons live all over the country or they often stay abroad, which makes the property settlement very difficult. It is also very difficult to expropriate the needed land in appropriate time because the delivery of decisions often fails and thus they cannot come into force.

In spite of the mentioned inconveniences RMD has to deal with during construction of motorways, development of roads in the Czech Republic has sped up in the last two years. In 2005 and 2006 RMD CR aspires to record-breaking numbers of kilometres built. Six motorways in the Czech Republic are under development in 2005. Spokeperson of RMD Jan Hoření says: "There has never before arisen a situation like this, with six motorways being built in the same year. At present about 150 kilometres of motorways is in construction and majority of those will be put into operation this year and mostly next year." All drivers can therefore look forward to faster and better travelling by car all over the Czech Republic. For instance, a new section of Motorway D1 (17.6 km) will be opened this October and it will continue in the route Vyškov - Vrchoslavice (in the direction to Zlín and later Ostrava). Drivers will be able to use Motorway D11 near Chlumec nad Cidlinou by the end of the year. However, only a half-profile operation (bi-directional) in one motorway lane is planned here for this year. Year 2006 will see three sections currently in construction being put into operation. Three large Czech towns - Hradec Králové, Ústí nad Labem and Plzeň - will get new kilometres of motorways.

Road and Motorway Directorate of the Czech Republic is gradually trying to overcome obstacles set by imperfect legislative which prolongs development of new roads. The most significant contribution was the passing of new law on the buying out of land. Similar law already exists in other countries, such as Germany. "No other European country has to deal with such problems with land holders as the Czech Republic. I firmly believe that we will manage to remove this obstacle as soon as possible, " added Petr Laušman.