Czech government sacks, replaces D1 contractor

Mounting pressure against the consortium of companies entrusted with renovating a 14 km stretch of the Czech D1 motorway has resulted in a change of contractors. The TGS Joint Venture, made up of Geosan Group, Toto Costruzioni Generali and SP Sine Midas Story resigned from the job this week and will be replaced. The work was supposed to be completed before December but ran into delays and when snow hit the region last week, the result was a massive collapse in traffic, with back-ups that stretched tens of kilometers. The Minister of Transport Dan Ťok said that while he was pressuring the consortium to finish up its work, he'd hoped that as in recent years, there would would be no snow in December. The minister has naturally been slaughtered by the opposition for the comment. Work was then halted on the road but will be renewed on Wednesday morning until Friday to allow the crush of holiday traffic to pass.