News

A unique new combined transport terminal has now opened at Ostrava Airport Multimodal Park, part of the Mošnov Industrial Zone. The terminal will facilitate the shift away from road transport and towards rail freight. 

After 25 days of intense work, a team of ten people headed by the Ostrava street artist Bogy completed a brand-new mural on a retaining wall flanking the road above Baník Ostrava’s Bazaly football stadium. 

The reconstruction project at the former Ostravica-Textilia department store has now entered its next phase. The investor (the developer Ivančice property a.s.) and the general building contractor (Bystroň Group a.s.) recent gave a progress update, including an outline of the work planned for the upcoming winter months, which will focus mainly on the interiors. Monitoring inspections are held on a weekly basis to ensure that the construction work is proceeding as planned and to the required quality.

Clear rules and guidelines for the future development of the Černá Louka (Black Meadow) area in central Ostrava are to be defined by a new urban planning study. In 2022 the City tasked the Municipal Studio for Spatial Planning and Architecture (MAPPA) with drawing up this detailed document.

EXPO REAL in Munich is Europe’s premier event in the real estate investment sector. In the previous two years the event was hit by COVID-related restrictions, but this year Ostrava – together with Prague and the Moravian-Silesian Region – is once again able to take part in a joint presentation entitled Czech Cities & Regions.

In the last week of September, a coalition agreement was signed following the latest local elections. As in the previous electoral period, the largest party in the City Assembly (ANO 2011) will join forces with the SPOLU grouping and the Czech Pirate Party to run the city for the next four years.

On 21 September 2022, the former city slaughterhouse building in Ostrava’s city centre hosted the opening of the first ever public exhibition held in the new premises of the Plato Gallery – Ostrava’s premier contemporary art space. The exhibition is entitled “Optimized Fables about a Good Life”.

For the fourth time in a row, Ostrava’s City Authority has been ranked first in the Moravian-Silesian Region in a competition to find the most citizen-friendly local government authority. 

Ostrava’s Zoo and Botanical Park has recently opened two new facilities for rare primates and other animals. The macaques and gibbons have now been relocated from the old pavilion to their state-of-the-art new homes.

The City of Ostrava has selected the operator of its bikesharing scheme for the upcoming two years. The contract has again been awarded to Nextbike Czech Republic, which has been running the system for several years.

Ostrava’s main railway station is a major rail transport hub, and its importance is set to grow even further with the planned construction of a high-speed rail line and the complete modernization of the station (a project that will be implemented by the national railway authority, which operates the station). To complement this project, the City of Ostrava is planning extensive improvements to the public space directly in front of the station.

A complete transformation awaits Masná Street in Ostrava’s city centre, close to the historic former slaughterhouse that has now been converted into the Plato contemporary art gallery. Currently, the street is a dead end, but it will be extended to create a link to Stodolní and Janáčkova Streets. 

In order to ensure that Ostrava’s new concert hall boasts the best possible acoustics, a precise copy of its interior (at a scale of 1:10) was created and used for a series of acoustic measurements.

Ostrava’s City Assembly has approved the sale of land between Macharova St. and Nádražní St. to the developer NIRA Projekt Omega s.r.o. The planned development at the site will incorporate apartments and commercial premises, and construction is scheduled to begin in 2024.

On 22 June 2022 the rating agency Moody’s updated the City of Ostrava’s credit rating, confirming that the City has retained its existing rating (Aa3 with stable outlook).

Due to a technical break of the payment gateway provider, it will not be possible to make payments through the payment portal of the City of Ostrava on Thursday, July 21, 2022 from 02:00 – 06:00.

Visitor numbers at Ostrava’s zoo and botanical park continue to grow, and this brings problems with parking. Especially at weekends, the zoo’s current parking facilities are completely unable to meet demand. The situation is now being addressed by the construction of a new parking garage; work is set to begin in the upcoming days.

The City Assembly has decided to sign a contract with the investor First Skyscraper s.r.o., which will carry out a complete reconstruction of the city-centre high-rise block known locally as “the skyscraper”, as well as building a new parking garage on the site. Both projects must be completed within no more than five years, i.e. by 2027.

Ostrava’s City Assembly has approved the provision of 150 million CZK as a subsidy to support the “Black Cube” project, which will create a regional research library incorporating a centre for digitalization and innovation. 

A new city quarter for 12,000 people is set to be built in Ostrava, including a nature park, direct access to the Ostravice River, and a brand-new boulevard that will create a direct link between Ostrava’s city centre and Lower Vítkovice.