The Senate today allowed a one-year postponement of the operation of the Supreme Building Authority

Prague – The Senate has allowed a one-year delay in the operation of the Supreme Building Authority and regional building authorities. These state authorities were supposed to start functioning in mid-next year according to the construction law adopted last year, replacing the current municipal building authorities. The government coalition wants to preserve some municipal building authorities through another amendment, which was criticized by some senators today. They called for the existing network of building authorities to be maintained at least until the digitization of the building process.

The upper chamber did not directly approve the amendment to the building law, as it was lacking two votes. Senators expressed doubts about whether the delay would sufficiently reflect in the subsequent regulations. Critics were also concerned that the amendment postpones the establishment of the Supreme Building Authority, which legally came into existence at the beginning of the year.

No member of the upper chamber proposed a rejection or modification of the amendment. Thus, in accordance with the constitution, the president will receive the amendment for signing after the one-month period which the upper chamber has for discussing laws, specifically after June 22.

The amendment stipulates that from mid-next year, only the Specialized and Appellate Building Authority will begin operating. It will be responsible for large infrastructure projects, such as highways, nationwide railways, or power plants. Other projects will be subject to approval under existing regulations until June 30, 2024. The digitization of the building process is postponed by six months to January 1, 2024, as the original deadline cannot be met according to the Ministry for Regional Development.

The current government is preparing a substantive change to the new construction law, which, among other things, preserves a portion of building authorities under municipalities. This amendment should be submitted to the government by the end of June after addressing the comments. The Ministry for Regional Development expects that the Chamber of Deputies could start discussing it in the autumn. The coalition has agreed that 371 building authorities should mainly operate within regional offices and municipalities with extended competencies, while 244 building authorities would be abolished from mid-next year.

This has been particularly criticized by Senator Michael Canov (SLK), pointing out that the parties of the current government coalition originally promised to maintain building authorities, and now they want to abolish two-fifths of them. Canov caused an uproar by reading aloud the names of all municipalities that would lose their building authorities as a protest. Jitka Seitlová (KDU-ČSL) admonished the senator three times for not speaking to the proposed amendment, and ultimately withdrew his speaking rights. Canov completed his speech as the first Czech senator with the microphone turned off and was not escorted away from the podium.

The new building law has been in preparation for several years. The government of Andrej Babiš (ANO) hoped for faster building processes due to adherence to set deadlines. The law aims to transfer all existing building authorities from municipalities to the state and create a state building administration. According to former Minister for Regional Development Klára Dostálová (ANO), the local offices of building authorities would remain where they are now, as detached units. Conversely, the government coalition asserts that the building law would cause disruption in the building process and distance building authorities from citizens.