According to the Czech Chamber of Architects (ČKA), the amendment to the Building Act together with the draft law on a unified environmental opinion will not speed up or simplify the construction process in any significant way and is a step backwards. ČKA states in an announcement that the amendment is a very sad result of many years of work and a missed opportunity to support construction and investment in new job opportunities and infrastructure. The Chamber of Commerce joined the criticism. The Ministry of Regional Development (MMR) stated that the amendment will help start the development of the construction industry. On Thursday, the amendment to the Construction Act is on the agenda of the Legislative Council of the Government.
“The substantive amendment proposal demonstrates that the government is unable to push through a real reform of construction law. That is, changes that would replace today’s fragmented and lengthy decision-making on land use and building permits with a comprehensive assessment within the framework of a unified procedure, strengthen the powers of municipalities in the area of spatial planning and increase the legal the certainty of all those involved, be it citizens or builders,” said Jan Kasl, chairman of the Czech Chamber of Architects (ČKA).
“The laws here are supposed to be for the people, not just for officials. Unfortunately, during the preparation of the amendment, there was an incomprehensible intentional disregard of the comments not only of people from the field, experts, but also of cities and municipalities,” said Vladimír Dlouhý, president of the Chamber of Commerce (HK). The Chamber of Commerce, which covers professional organizations in the field, claims that the MMR did not discuss its proposals with it during legislative preparation. “The consequence of this is that in the comment procedure, it was more about whether there will be cancellation of official posts than how to set rules to speed up the occupation of construction. This resulted in a non-functional, detached from practice standard on the table, due to which the Czech Republic will aspire to a construction the slowest country in the world,” added Dlouhý. The Chamber of Commerce recommends the government to suspend the discussion of the amendment and discuss the changes with professional organizations and cities and municipalities.
In response, the MMR said that the amendment to the Building Act will create a clear, modern and predictable environment not only for builders and designers. “This will be a fundamental change that will help start the development of the construction industry in the coming years. The amendment will correct the biggest mistakes and at the same time bring many benefits. In particular, it will speed up and make construction management more efficient while maintaining the protection of public interests. The permit period will be shortened as originally planned. Likewise the principle of ‘one office, one procedure, one stamp’ remains,” said MMR spokeswoman Veronika Hešíková.
The new construction law, which has been in preparation for years, was prepared by the former government of Andrej Babiš (ANO), and the House of Representatives approved it last summer over the Senate’s veto. Even last year, ČKA was not enthusiastic about his appearance. “Unfortunately, the result is not an opportunity for applause,” she said on her website at the time.
This year, the new cabinet of Petr Fiala (ODS) enforced a one-year postponement of the effectiveness of essential passages of the law. The amendment primarily abolishes the Supreme Building Authority and the new regional building authorities subordinate to it and, according to the MMR, retains part of the building authorities under municipalities, the number of which will be decided by the government. From the middle of next year, only the Specialized and Appeals Construction Authority will start operating, which will be in charge of large infrastructure constructions, for example highways, national railways or power plants. Other buildings will be subject to authorization according to existing regulations until June 30, 2024. Digitization of construction procedures should be launched on January 1, 2024 after a six-month delay.
ČKA states that the adoption of the amendment would fundamentally violate the principle of integration. The main goal of the adopted law on amendments is to speed up the obtaining of a building permit. But according to ČKA, the amendment will not fulfill this. “A number of documents are to be issued independently in the ‘old fashioned way’, again mainly in the form of a binding opinion, which practically eliminates the possibility of seeking a consensus,” says ČKA.
He also criticizes the fact that the amendment would abolish the so-called Prague building regulations and large cities (Prague, Brno and Ostrava) could have the right to obtain “only” implementing regulations for the location of buildings. ČKA stated that “the harmful consequences would be far-reaching”. According to the MMR, the capital city will have its own territorial building regulations in the form of implementing regulations for the new building law. “However, in order for everything to be procedurally correct, the existing Prague Building Regulations must first be abolished. This will prevent chaos, especially between designers and builders. The Prague Building Regulations will then be the implementing regulations of the new Building Act,” said the MMR.
According to ČKA, representatives of cities and municipalities and large builders also express their disapproval of the amendment. “The government of the Czech Republic should listen to these critical voices and ensure the preparation of an amended draft of the substantive amendment. Otherwise, it is likely that the Chamber of Deputies will adopt the un-discussed amendment,” says Kasl, adding that the amendment may suffer the fate of an adopted law, i.e. postponement and amendments.
Source: ČKA and CTK
