Svoboda canceled Čunek's plan to abolish 200 building authorities

Prague - The Minister for Regional Development Cyril Svoboda (KDU-ČSL) has definitively buried the thoughts of his predecessor Jiří Čunek about the possible abolition of up to 200 of the 700 building offices. Svoboda, who replaced Čunek in office in the second half of January, said this today in an interview for ČTK. "I will not shut them down," the minister stated.
    At the same time, it is apparently necessary to place higher demands on the employees of the existing offices. "A head of a building office cannot be just anyone who has built a garage, a house, or renovated a kitchen," he remarked.
    The possibility of abolishing up to 200 building offices was one of the options under consideration in the draft amendment to the building law, which began to be developed at the Ministry of Regional Development during Čunek's term. This proposal then faced opposition from, for example, the Association of Towns and Municipalities of the Czech Republic.
    Building offices are the main institutions for reporting and approving constructions. They assess, for example, whether building projects are in accordance with the zoning plan and whether the project addresses the general requirements placed on construction. The building permit also sets conditions for the execution of the construction.
    The current building law has been in effect only since 2007 and already had to go through a minor amendment last year. Some experts on building law still describe it as "utterly unsuccessful." According to an earlier announcement from the Ministry of Regional Development, the draft of the prepared amendment is expected to be submitted to the government by the end of this June.