The construction of the Czech pavilion at the Expo 2025 world exhibition in Japan has risen in cost from original estimates by CZK 92.6 million due to extra works, iRozhlas reported yesterday.
There was a risk that the pavilion would not open before the official launch of the exhibition on Sunday, 13 April. The Czech Foreign Ministry therefore managed to arrange with the pavilion’s contractor, the Japanese company Daisue, for the remaining work on the pavilion to be completed on debt. The pavilion received approval for use last week, according to iRozhlas.
In a statement to CTK yesterday, Jana Kohoutova, spokeswoman for the Czech participation at Expo 2025, denied the existence of the alleged debt and said the opening of the pavilion was not in danger.
According to the server, the construction costs are related to the differences in the construction procedures in Japan. “The local authorities kept coming up with requests for modifications even after the project received approval. This led to changes due to the fire safety requirements. The price has also risen due to the lack of building material and the need to secure the pavilion against earthquakes,” iRozhlas wrote.
According to Kohoutova, the pavilion’s earthquake security was taken into account from the beginning. Without this, it would have been impossible to build in Japan. “However, there were strict extra requirements on the Japanese side, which we naturally had to meet,” she told CTK.
According to iRozhlas, the Foreign Ministry had CZK 193 million earmarked for the construction of the building, but the final price has climbed to CZK 286 million.
The Foreign Ministry was therefore intending to ask the government this week to increase the budget for the Czech Republic’s participation in the exhibition by CZK 92.6 million. Before that, however, it was possible to arrange for the completion, and the Czech Republic should then pay the money back to the company.
iRozhlas reported that part of the money spent on the construction of the pavilion will be returned to the state, and the Czech Republic should receive a VAT refund of CZK 26 million upon completion. A further CZK 42 million is to be raised by the sale of the pavilion after the end of the exhibition.
“The final bill for the construction will thus be higher by ‘only’ 25 million crowns,” the server said.
Kohoutova told CTK yesterday that part of the money for the Czech pavilion would be raised from partners during and after the exhibition.
She also denied that the Japanese company was building the Czech pavilion on debt or that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had agreed with the builder on a later payment date. “No such thing has happened, no one from the Foreign Ministry is communicating with the Japanese construction company,” she said yesterday. She also said the allegation that the opening of the pavilion was in jeopardy was not true, pointing out that the rough construction had been completed in early January.
Asked about the pavilion, the director of the ministry’s press department, Karel Smekal, said it had been approved and was ready for the exhibition opening.
The government is working with a budget estimate of CZK 290.2 million for the Czech participation in the Expo. Another CZK 150 million was to be secured from external sources. According to an earlier statement by Ondrej Soska, the general commissioner of the Czech participation, partnerships worth about CZK 100 million were concluded in mid-March and negotiations were underway with other companies.
The Czech Republic will participate in this year’s World Expo for the sixth time as an independent country. Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky will fly to Japan on Thursday, and according to iRozhlas, he will attend the opening ceremony of the World Expo as well as the opening of the Czech pavilion.
