Czech Regions to Get Zero State Funding for Road Repairs for First Time in a Decade

For the first time since 2015, the Czech government will not allocate any money to the regions for the repair and reconstruction of Class II and III roads, which fall under regional administration. This is stated in a letter from Transport Minister Ivan Bedřerík (SPD) sent to the Association of Regions — regional authorities had been counting on receiving their usual annual contribution from the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure.

According to the minister, the cabinet is now concentrating its resources on building the core motorway network and developing railways, so it cannot guarantee funding for regional roads either this year or in the years ahead.

The traditional four billion crowns are gone

In previous years, every government allocated regions roughly 4 billion crowns annually for road repairs from the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure, which also finances motorways, Class I roads and the railway network. That sum has now been reduced to zero.

"This is the first government since 2015 that isn't giving a single crown for regional roads — and it's openly saying the same will apply in the coming years too. For our region alone, the losses over this electoral term will amount to almost 1.5 billion crowns," said an indignant Jan Grolich, governor of the South Moravian Region (Christian Democrats).

By some estimates, repairing one kilometer of a regional road costs around 10 million crowns. That means without the state's 4 billion crowns a year, roughly 400 kilometers of roads nationwide will go unrepaired every year. Work won't stop entirely — regions co-finance repairs from their own budgets — but the state's share had accounted for roughly a third of all road investment.

"It's rural residents who suffer most"

Liberec Region governor Martin Půta (STAN) called the decision unfair to people in remote areas. "The people who will suffer most are those in rural and hard-to-reach areas. They pay taxes too, but while they might use a motorway twice a year, they drive on crumbling Class II and III roads every single day," he said, adding that such areas often happen to be electoral strongholds of the ruling parties.

Deputy Prime Minister Karel Havlíček (ANO) blames the funding gap on a budget hole left by the previous transport minister, Martin Kupka, who was short 45 billion crowns for other construction projects written into the fund's budget but never covered by the state budget. According to Havlíček, that money had to be reallocated — 27 billion crowns went to priority construction projects, otherwise work on the D6, D35, D3 and D11 motorways would have had to stop.

Governors demand funding for roads and bridges

The minister's letter came in response to a joint appeal from the governors, who had decided to demand 4 billion crowns annually from the government for roads, plus another 3 billion crowns for bridge repairs, for 2026, 2027 and 2028. Radim Holiš (ANO), governor of the Zlín Region and head of the Association of Regions, cautiously noted that zero funding "raises legitimate concerns among the regions" and marks a sharp departure from the previous support system.

Six governors from parties in opposition at the national level accuse the Association of Regions, where ANO representatives hold the majority, of being too weak and unable to forcefully defend the regions' interests before the government. "This is historically the weakest association we've ever had. Our colleagues from ANO apparently don't want to upset relations within their own party," Martin Půta said critically.

Central Bohemian Region governor Petra Pecková (STAN) is also outraged over the new 21% VAT imposed on compensation payments that regions pay carriers for organizing public transport. "I'm furious — this might be the biggest blow of all for us. Babiš does absolutely whatever he wants, and all his governors just accept it quietly," she said, recalling that back in 2025, when the previous Fiala government cut the road subsidy in half, it was ANO governors who protested the loudest.

The only money the state will still send to the regions for Class II and III roads will go toward projects the governors themselves have no say over — roads that need to be rerouted or connected because of the construction of priority state projects, motorways and railways.

Source: seznamzpravy.cz