The Chamber supported the amendment to the Building Act

Prague - The Chamber of Deputies today supported in the first reading a proposal for an amendment to the building law, which aims to correct or eliminate some mistakes that arose in the new building law effective from January. According to the Minister for Regional Development Jiří Čunek, who presented the proposal, it is just a small amendment, and the ministry will prepare a comprehensive amendment to the law by the end of the year. This should eliminate all the problems of the law.
    The amendment also addresses the permitting of groups of buildings. For example, if a builder is simultaneously constructing a family house and a garage next to it, the building authority will deal with it through one permit.
    The proposal further changes the regulations for building fences. For instance, all fences higher than 1.8 meters bordering public spaces, according to the current valid state, require a building permit and cannot be constructed by oneself. The builder must submit project documentation prepared by an authorized person. "I am convinced that the current legal regulation unjustifiably burdens builders," noted Čunek.
    Municipalities would also, according to the new regulation, replace processed spatial plans not within a five-year period but within a nine-year period. "This will lead to savings for municipalities, a more balanced distribution of project capacities, and will allow for non-conflict utilization of funds from the European Union in the planning period from 2007 to 2013," stated the minister.
    "We welcome everything that the amendment simplifies," said Michael Smola, Secretary of the Association of Entrepreneurs in Construction, to CTK. The proposal has undergone a commentary procedure with the association. Smola reminded that it will take at least 90 days before the law is approved.
    Čunek did not rule out that the Ministry of Regional Development would prepare and present in the second reading a proposal that would allow construction in those municipalities that do not have a spatial plan prepared. He reacted to the speech of MP Václav Grüner (CSSD), who finds such a measure lacking in the amendment. "The building law literally created a building moratorium in all municipalities and towns that do not have a spatial plan prepared, thus halting the construction of apartments and family houses. It can be said that only about 25 percent of municipalities in this republic have a prepared spatial plan," believes Grüner.
    The deputies also passed to the final reading the amendment to the Water Act, which representatives of the Zlin region brought to the chamber this spring. They propose that small municipalities with up to 2,000 inhabitants that have sewage systems but no treatment plants receive a three-year deferment of the obligation to clean wastewater. The proposal has been recommended for rejection by three committees, and the government does not agree with it either.
    Deputy Governor of Zlin Region Vojtěch Jurčík again pointed out to the deputies today that the construction of treatment plants costs a lot of money, which municipalities do not have. He recalled that there is a methodological guideline from the Ministry of the Environment that allows exemptions for municipalities on the condition that they have at least prepared project documentation. However, he wants this recommendation to have a more suitable form than just publication in the Government Gazette for the authorities of regions and municipalities.
    The final vote also lies ahead for the amendment to the Mining Activity Act. The government has proposed, among other things, to relocate the headquarters of the Czech Mining Authority from Prague to Ostrava. The norm also regulates the rules of state expert supervision during the operation of certain underground constructions, such as tunnels, galleries, or collectors. In many cases, access to them is not sufficiently secured, which poses the risk of injury. This also relates to the establishment of a mining rescue service that would address possible accidents, stated the Ministry of Industry, which introduced the proposal.
    In the part of the amendment concerning the handling of explosives, according to MP Břetislav Petr (CSSD), over 100 amendments arrived at the economic committee. "It is evident that although this is a matter understood by a relatively small number of people in our republic, it is probably an attractive area when so many amendments came in," he said. The deputies are expected to decide on the proposal during this session, but not before next week.