Prague Business Journal - Article Last updated: 21st Nov 2003, 9:13 Banking & Finance Energy Gov't & Politics Industry & Trade IT & Telecom Communications Real Estate Social Services Business Life This week's PBJ Enter keyword(s): Advanced Search Feature Expert Files Ad Infinitum Company Profile Commentary Opinion Who's news Week in review Markets Week Inside the list Restaurant review Time Well Spent This week's columns Movie Guide Restaurant Guide Calendar City Invest Czech Conference Calendar Internet Marketplace PBJ Events Newsletters Archives Advanced Search Export-Import Center FREE Registration PBJ Subscribe PBJ Store Affiliates Do Business With Us LOG IN FAQ About Us Feedback Advertise Staff List PBJ HomeBusiness LifeWeek in Review - Business 21st Nov 2003, 19:41 Business Life 17th Nov 2003 Week in Review - Business EC Group proposed a settlement to state bail-out agency CKA wherein EC Group would drop 10 of its 11 claims and seek Kc 280 million back instead of the Kc 700 million it had previously sought. The CKA supervisory board was reportedly opposed to the settlement. A decision in all disputes was expected this week. A survey by Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker named Na Prikope (Prague 1) the 18th most expensive shopping lane in the world. It jumped from last year's 25th place thanks to a 25 percent rent increase to EUR 1,690 per sqm per month. The most expensive is New York Park Avenue, with rents of EUR 7,967 per sqm a month. The Ministry of Industry and Trade is drafting an amendment to the Energy Act according to which the Czech gas market could be fully liberalized by 2007. The new law is expected to go into effect in the first half of 2004. The government will not exercise its option to join a $900 million Czech Telecom share offering planned by a consortium of Dutch KPN and Swisscom, officials from the National Property Fund (FNM) said. A deal between the government, which holds 51 percent in Czech Telecom, and the consortium allowed the Czechs to participate in the sale, expected early next year. The foreign telecom firms are planning to sell 27 percent of shares in Telecom. The government approved Minister of Trade and Industry Milan Urban's proposal to grant Karbon Invest three-month exclusivity on the sale of the state's 45.88 percent share in OKD, the largest Czech black coal miner. Metalimex, Ceskomoravske Doly, and OKD are part of the Karbon Invest group. A total of 881,000 people living in the Czech Republic accessed the Internet every day or almost every day in the third quarter of 2003, according to the results of the media market research project Media Projekt, carried out by marketing research agencies GfK Praha and Median. The number of people accessing the Internet from home rose by 22 percent, the survey found. The parliamentary media commission recommended that the lower house establish a committee charged with preparing a plan to merge Czech Television and Czech Radio into a single company. The commission recommended the committee be made up of MPs and a Ministry of Culture representative. Delvita, which operates some 100 supermarkets in the Czech Republic, plans to open six to seven new stores annually, said the retail chain's new CEO, Jiri Charvat, who replaced Dirk Van Den Berg. The company also plans to diversify by building Delvita City supermarkets in urban neighborhoods. Hospitals and medical associations fear that hundreds of Czech doctors may leave for work abroad, now that the European Union has banned overtime shifts for medical personnel and hospitals in EU countries such as Germany will have increased staff vacancies, Hospodarske Noviny reported. Next Page Prague Business Journal Weekly Headlines Regional Roundup 'This is such nonsense and stupidity that I won't even comment.' President Václav Klaus during the BBC interview program 'Hardtalk' last Monday, when asked about discrimination against Roma in Czech society. BBJ | PBJ | CEEBIZ | BOL | CEEProperty | Prague Insider © 2003 New World Publishing Kft and New World Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or re-dissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of New World Publishing.