Ružinov buys land along Štrkovec lake from private owner for €2.6m

The local assembly of the Ružinov municipality in Bratislava has approved the purchase of a plot of land along the edge of the Štrkovec lake from a developer for €2.6m. They did so on the recommendation of the district's mayor Martin Chren, who claimed the price was fair and that it was in the interest of the public. "After years of negotiations, we managed to buy this parking lot at the market price, which is almost the same price that the private owner bought it in a public auction in which he was competing with others," wrote Chren on his Facebook page. "The land of this parking lot is zoned for the construction of flats. Now that we've gotten it back for the district, however, residents don't have to be afraid that someone will build another panel building in the location by our valuable lake." Critics of the acquisition, led by the Team Vallo Club, argued that the price paid by Ružinov was far higher than its valuation and that it would have been possible to prevent construction on the site using the existing zoning and legislative measures.