Dostálová: The state's large construction investments will be expedited by a special office

Prague - A new special office with a team of experts will accelerate large state construction investments such as highways or energy infrastructure. This is provided for by the prepared construction law, said Minister for Regional Development Klára Dostálová (for ANO) at a briefing after today's meeting with the largest state investors. According to her, it is common today that a major national construction project is handled by a small building office that had no chance of ever encountering such a large project before.

A typical example, according to Dostálová, could be the Prague ring road, which is handled by the building office in Uhříněves. "I can hardly blame the official of this office for making a mistake when notifying the participants in the proceedings and that a public discussion must be repeated, which will bring further delays to the construction. The official of this small building office does not have and cannot have enough experience with a ten billion project," the minister said today.

One of the meeting participants, the general director of ČEZ and first vice-president of the Confederation of Industry and Transportation, Daniel Beneš, stated that he considers the problem of the current construction law to be the number of building offices and affected bodies and the absence of their mutual coordination and communication.

He cited the effort of ČEZ, which needed to obtain an opinion regarding the zoning plan to start the EIA process (Environmental Impact Assessment) for a new nuclear block in Dukovany. According to the director, this took more than a year.

"The wording of the law did not make it clear who should be responsible for its issuance. The regional office and even the Ministry of the Environment, for which this opinion was a prerequisite, claimed that it should be issued by the Ministry for Regional Development (MMR). MMR, based on conducted legal analyses, concluded that the responsible body is the building office in Hrotovice, which is not a body of spatial planning and did not have this information. After many complications and intensive negotiations, the desired statement was issued by MMR," he stated. According to him, ČEZ and the confederation unequivocally support the change in construction law.

In addition to ČEZ, other companies also attended today's meeting, including ČEPS, the Railway Administration, and the Road and Motorway Directorate. Also present was the first deputy minister of industry and trade for the energy sector, René Neděla.

The government expects significant acceleration and simplification of construction approvals from the new construction law. According to World Bank data, the Czech Republic ranks 157th out of 190 compared countries in obtaining building permits. The law is expected to come into force at the beginning of next year. According to Dostálová, its effectiveness will be phased in, with the latest term being mid-2023. However, the regulation has many critics. Among the most common criticisms is that it favors developers and does not protect public interests.