Prague leaders are planning to overhaul the city’s asset management policy. Changes will affect real property ownership as well as administration of the city’s stakes in municipally owned corporations. The reform will also affect the statutes of all municipally owned corporations, which would be newly required to present bi-annual reports on key contracts and plans to the City Council. 

Prague is planning to overhaul its asset ownership policy as soon as possible. As the first step, it will compile a comprehensive list of all corporations fully or partially owned by the city, categorized by their importance and objectives.

“As regards the roadmap, we are planning to review and amend the statutes of all business corporations to introduce an obligation to present contracts over a certain value to the Supervisory Board for discussion. This should prevent the recurrence of situations when major contracts were not discussed by the Supervisory Board,” says Jan Chabr, City Councilor in charge of municipal asset management.

Every corporation wholly owned by the city should newly hold a general meeting twice a year. “Such general meeting comprises the Prague City Council. All members of the Board of Directors and the Supervisory Board of the respective corporation would also be invited. The Board of Directors would first present a report on the execution of the business and financial plan and a proposal of a plan for the next period including an overview of major initiatives,” explains Jan Chabr.

After that, the Supervisory Board would present its own activity report. This would ensure that key municipal bodies are informed about the corporation’s condition, operations and future plans.

The new multifaceted ownership policy will define Prague’s roles as asset owner. “The city should have a clear idea how it wants to dispose of and manage different types of assets. This would streamline the institutional framework for exercising ownership rights to the city’s stakes in business corporations,” concludes Jan Chabr.