Association of Developers Aims to Influence Legislation

Prague - The Association of Developers plans to influence legislation in its field roughly half a year after its establishment. In an interview with ČTK today, its director Tomáš Kadeřábek stated this. At its inception in November last year, the association publicly proclaimed that it had no such ambitions. The number of members has increased from the original 13 to 19; according to Kadeřábek, it could reach up to 25 within two months. Gradually, it aims to represent the majority of the market.

"We have never resisted that. We just said that at the outset of our existence, it would be very ambitious. The association did not initially have the necessary representational ability. But as our membership base gradually grows, the question of legislation is certainly on the table. Now we are discussing among members how much we will focus on legislation," Kadeřábek said.

He considers excessively long timeframes to be the biggest problem in the industry. In many cases, he says, they outright exclude the possibility of a project being created. "When a company decides it wants to build something in Prague, it must reckon that it will take five, maybe even seven years. Such a timeline is truly tragic. During that time, the market situation can be significantly different than at the time of the business intention. And that, of course, discourages many companies," Kadeřábek added. The result, according to him, is a limitation of supply for consumers and a rise in prices.

However, identifying a specific culprit is very difficult, he says. "Sometimes it gets simplified; it's said that the city or ministry is to blame. But the matter is much more complicated. There are many factors involved, starting with the European Union and ending with firefighters. We will try to work towards minimizing the parameters involved in this. To simplify the entire process," Kadeřábek added.

The number of member companies in the association has increased from the founding 13 to 19. According to Kadeřábek, it could reach 25 in the next two to three months. "We are not primarily concerned with the number, but we would like to have the majority of the market. We are working to have large players, who have the main say, join us. We already have several of them in our ranks. We have about 70 companies on our list that we are trying to communicate with. But these are certainly not all the developers; according to our estimates, there are over a hundred operating in Prague alone," Kadeřábek concluded.

Current members of the Association of Developers include AFI Europe Czech Republic, Atkins and Langford development, Bpd Development, Crestyl, Daramis, Finep, Flow East, HB Reavis Group, Karimpol International, Karlín Group, KRR Development, Pannatoni CR Development, Passerinvest Group, Prague Property Management, Skanska Property CR, Satpo broker, Star Prague, UBM Bohemia Development, and Ungelt Services.