Plavcan: Slovakia on Right Track to Have Own National Football Stadium

Plavcan: Slovakia on Right Track to Have Own National Football Stadium

Bratislava, May 10 (TASR) – Slovakia is geared up to have a National Football Stadium (NFS) built in Bratislava in 2018, said Education, Science, Research and Sport Minister Peter Plavcan (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee) after inking a contract on the completion of the construction work and purchase of the stadium with NFS company chair Pavol Komornik on Tuesday.

Plavcan and Komornik thus finalised the state’s commitment to complete the construction and purchase of the non-commercial portion of NFS by December 31, 2018.

“This multiyear effort is now at an end. The contract was signed to ensure that the first steps will be undertaken in order for Slovakia to have its own National Football Stadium by 2018. We’re one of the few states that still don’t have one,” said Plavcan.

The minister said that he’ll provide more information after the Government session scheduled for Wednesday, May 11.

The interests of the Education Ministry are protected in the project by a number of institutions, such as the Public Procurement Office, and by the approving stance of the European Commission and its evaluation of the transaction.

NFS will be the beneficiary of a subsidy worth €27.2 million for the construction process, but the sum will be deducted from the purchasing price. Calculations of the purchasing price will be supervised by an independent expert.

If the stadium doesn’t meet UEFA’s requirements and potential shortcomings aren’t remedied within two years of the conclusion of the purchasing contract, the state will be free to withdraw from the agreement.

Entrepreneur Ivan Kmotrik Sr. was originally supposed to build the National Football Stadium in Bratislava, but he later announced that he wouldn’t be financing the construction work with his own money.