BRATISLAVA has once again lost in a proceeding over the demolition of its PKO cultural venue. The Bratislava Regional Court ruled that the contract signed with Henbury Development, the owner of lands under PKO, is valid.
The verdict is valid, but the representatives of the capital can still turn to the Supreme Court to decide whether such a decision automatically means the demolition of the venue, the TASR newswire reported.
This is already the second ruling passed by the higher-instance court in the case. The first ruling, in favour of the investor, was issued by the Bratislava I District Court in December 2011, but the regional court abolished it. The second ruling was issued last March, but the representatives of Bratislava appealed it again.
City councillors agreed with selling the lands to investors back in 2005. Though the investor did not sell the buildings, the city council approved the investment project of the developer that wanted to construct new multifunctional objects on site. With such a move, the city councillors in fact agreed with removing the buildings, the judge explained.
“Preserving the buildings did not emerge from the investment project and was not compatible with the purpose of the sale of lands,” the judge said, as quoted by TASR.
The senate, however, admitted that the resolution of the city council does not contain any explicit provision over demolishing the PKO.
“Nobody from the city council expressed agreement with demolishing the buildings,” said Bratislava Mayor Milan Ftáčnik, as quoted by TASR.
According to the current representatives of the town, the city councillors reserved the right to decide what will happen with the buildings by appointing former mayor Andrej Ďurkovský to negotiate over their sale. This means that the council wanted to decide over the buildings again.
Ftáčnik said they will turn to the Supreme Court to decide over the issue. Moreover, he plans to terminate the agreement over cooperation when demolishing the buildings in order to prevent any unexpected moves from investors towards the PKO until the court issues its decision, as reported by TASR.
Henbury Development currently cannot demolish the building, as the validity of the permission has already expired and it is possible the city will not extend it.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
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