Prague Must Adopt New Metropolitan Plan to Increase Housing Construction

Housing shortages in Prague are driven by a chronic deficit in new apartments, with construction rates two‑thirds lower than the city’s needs. Zdeněk Zajíček, president of the Czech Chamber of Commerce, warned that the 1999 metropolitan plan will expire in 18 months and that without a new plan, the city could be unable to approve new housing, schools or infrastructure. He advocated revising the plan to focus on unused industrial sites, brownfields and high‑rise development, and called for faster permitting and stable legislative conditions.

At an investors’ forum organised by councilor Ondřej Prokop, officials stressed the urgency of accelerating construction. They criticised the current use of the existing plan’s capacity, noting that a project in Dolní Počernice could add nearly 700 more apartments if the new plan were applied. Prokop promoted prefabricated building methods, claiming they can cut construction time from years to months and reduce costs by up to 25 %. Both speakers urged swift adoption of the new metropolitan plan and innovative building techniques to address the housing crisis.