Opening of Blanka tunnel may be delayed by final tests

The opening of Prague’s newly completed tunnel Blanka scheduled for December 2nd may have to be postponed due to a slide in the schedule of the final technology tests, the daily Mladá fronta Dnes reports. The paper says that while the city council has not yet announced a delay, the tests started on Friday and according to the contract signed are to last for a period of 55 days. The city’s former mayor Bohuslav Svoboda has criticized the new city council for having dragged its feet on issuing a public tender for the company which would undertake the tests. Deputy mayor Jiří Nouza told the daily that the company in question was working around-the-clock to try to meet the deadline.