Audit: Almost CZK 1 billion investment in waterways shows no results

The Czech state has put CZK 927 million into a system of locks on the Labe (Elbe) River that has not yet been built, the Supreme Audit Office says. The auditors say that water transport has in the long term played a very small role in the expedition of goods in the Czech Republic.

The Supreme Audit Authority was looking into a Ministry of Regional Development project launched in 2014 to foster water transport in the Czech Republic.

Only about 1 percent of all cargo in the Czech Republic is transported by water. The main reason for this is the unreliability of the Labe and Vltava rivers, which are not always navigable.

The project examined by the auditors conceives of the construction of a lock system at Děčín.