Babiš: It is nonsense for five ministries to comment on construction projects

photo: www.capihnizdo.cz

Prague - Minister of Finance and leader of the government movement ANO Andrej Babiš is not satisfied with the state of construction legislation. He believes it is nonsensical for five ministries to be involved in the approval of construction projects. Therefore, he states that it is necessary to change the competence law, which divides powers among the ministries. Babiš made this statement today at the Forum of Czech Construction conference. According to him, there is enough money for construction, but it is necessary to clearly define what should be built in the Czech Republic. Babiš labeled this as "an inventory of investments."

"We had some plans on how to change the rules. Not everything succeeded. I am mainly not satisfied with the state of the legislation. The procedure for adopting some laws should change in the House. We could take a cue from the German Bundestag," said Babiš. In the Czech Republic, construction is assigned to the Ministry of Industry and Trade under the competence law. However, it also falls under the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of the Environment, and Ministry for Regional Development.

The amendment to the building law has passed to the third reading in the House. It aims to simplify the approval process. It will allow the merging of the currently separate territorial procedure, building procedure, and environmental impact assessment, known as EIA. Compared to Germany or Austria, the time for approving construction projects in the Czech Republic is more than twice as long. Approximately a hundred amendments from individual MPs and parliamentary committees are also heading to the third reading alongside the amendment. However, many of them overlap. MPs will decide on them when approving the amendment, probably already in March. The proposal changes 43 related laws.

According to opposition MP and former Minister of Agriculture Petr Bendl (ODS), changing the competence law will not improve the situation. "We can discuss merging ministries. It will be painful, but it's necessary. But a much bigger problem is that opportunistic organizations are winning here that appeal against constructions," Bendl stated. He considers that the new public procurement law has not brought any improvement either. He also sees the frequent changes in legislation as a problem.

Minister for Regional Development Karla Šlechtová (for ANO), who presented the amendment, warned in January that if the proposal passed the second reading with many changes, she would propose its withdrawal to the government. Originally, about 270 amendments had been submitted to it. The current amendments will be dealt with by the parliamentary committee for public administration on Wednesday to provide recommendations to MPs for the final approval. This could come as soon as next week.

According to Babiš, politicians should develop a clear investment plan. "Like in Poland. Before the European Football Championship in 2012, they decided what they wanted to build. And today they have new highways and stadiums. And what about us? Just look at Brno. They have neither a concert hall nor a proper football or hockey stadium. Around Prague, there are also no schools. Many places lack bypasses. And I could go on," added Babiš. He believes it would be good to have people in politics who have actually built something. "At least a doghouse. But they should know something about it," he concluded.

Czech construction fell by 7.6 percent year-on-year last year, which, together with 2012, is the worst result in the last 16 years. According to analysts, the decline should stop this year.

While the production of residential construction fell by 3.3 percent last year, civil engineering, predominantly involving transport infrastructure, plummeted by 16 percent.

At the end of the first half of last year, according to the Czech Statistical Office, there were 357,057 employees in construction firms in the Czech Republic, which is 6,378 fewer than the previous year. Compared to the first half of the pre-crisis year 2008, their number decreased by 56,544.