The amendment to the Building Act, which is currently being discussed by deputies, includes the State Building Office. The cabinet of Andrej Babiš (ANO) promises that it will significantly speed up the construction of apartments and other important buildings in the Czech Republic.
“Because of the bureaucracy, projects are being prepared for ten or more years, and this is hindering the construction of apartments, infrastructure and the development of the entire economy. Therefore, we must fundamentally change the system and speed up the construction process,” said Babiš.
So far in the Czech Republic, construction projects are primarily approved by authorities located in individual municipalities. Exceptions are made for large infrastructure constructions, such as highways, which are assessed by the specialized Transport and Energy Building Office.
If the government enforces its idea of the building law, the so-called Territorial Development Office, or the aforementioned central building office, will be established. It will have 14 regional headquarters as well as other territorial and detached workplaces.
According to the Minister for Regional Development Zuzana Mrázová (ANO), the introduction of the new products will take place in four phases. The first is the approval of the law, which is to take place this year. The state will prepare a new office next year. It will be fully operational in 2028.
Digitization after 2030
According to the cabinet, the fourth phase will be digitization. But the current cabinet will not have time to finish here. He planned it only for the period after 2030. According to Mrázová, it needs to be prepared in the best possible way.
“And lessons from the past tell us not to try to be unnecessarily fast, but to be of the highest quality and efficiency,” Mrázová told the ČTK agency earlier.
It was the pressure for rapid digitization of construction management that caused problems for the previous government of Petr Fiala (ODS) in 2024. The Ministry for Regional Development under the leadership of Ivan Bartoš (Pirates) launched the system even with errors. They complicated the work of the officials so much that the issuing of building permits almost froze for a time. At that time, the Ministry faced criticism not only from officials, but also from builders or designers.
Now experts are divided in their view of the planned changes to the Building Act. While developers and construction companies support it, for example the Czech Chamber of Certified Engineers and Architects claims that after the introduction of the law, the authorities will prioritize the speed of construction over its quality.
The chamber is also bothered by the fact that the government bypassed the standard comment procedure by submitting the proposal not to the cabinet, but to a group of deputies.
“The only option we have now is to address members of the current government and deputies and try to convince them to include our proposals in their amendments,” stated the chairman of the chamber, Robert Špalek.
However, according to Mrázová, a fast pace is necessary in order to solve the existing problems with the slow assessment of buildings as soon as possible.
