Bartoš: Fees for building wells and home treatment plants are to be reduced

Jihlava – Fees for the construction of wells and domestic wastewater treatment plants should be reduced. The new construction law, which has been in effect for only a few days, raised fees for these small structures from 300 crowns to 10,000 Kč. Minister for Regional Development Ivan Bartoš said this today in Jihlava.

According to him, a change will require amendments to legislation concerning the construction process, such as the law on renewable resources. It does not make sense for small and simple water structures to be charged the same as more complex constructions, said Bartoš.

Wells and treatment plants should be classified in the category of simple structures instead of general constructions. "This is a matter that passed through the Chamber of Deputies, and no one probably noticed it at the time, because opposition parties – SPD and ANO – also voted in favor of the construction law. We are working to correct it. As soon as there is some carrier, which could be another package of laws on renewable resources or some other that touches on the construction law - because we do not want to create attachments - then it can be done. It could also be some quick amendment,” said Bartoš.

The decrease in the fee, which he believes the Chamber of Deputies could approve this year, will be significant, he added. He did not specify the exact amount. "In the case of wastewater treatment plants, in my opinion, it is a matter of public interest, and that fee should be as low as possible. I cannot say whether it will be 1,000 crowns or 300 crowns. In any case, these are matters we should make accessible to citizens and meet them halfway,” said Vysočina Governor Vítězslav Schrek after a meeting with the minister.

Bartoš visited Vysočina today due to the recent introduction of digitalized construction proceedings, which has not been without issues and outages. According to Schrek, officials would welcome a more detailed manual on how to conduct construction proceedings, more intensive training, and proper role definition in the digital system for officials and relevant authorities. The regional department of urban planning and building authority has not yet received any submissions in the new system.

The new construction law came into effect on Monday, July 1, for all types of constructions. The regulation, for example, eliminates double permitting of constructions and merges territorial and building proceedings into one. Building authorities will send out requests to other authorities themselves and obtain their opinions in what is called a coordinated binding statement. At the end, there should be a single stamp for the builder. Deadlines for processing permits will also be set, and the law introduces a new categorization of constructions. The permitting of certain constructions has become more expensive since the beginning of the summer, which specifically affects wells, small treatment plants, or garages.

Authorities and builders are to communicate during the building process in interconnected systems – the Builder's Portal for citizens and the Information System for Construction Proceedings for officials.

In the first days, the operation of the system was not without difficulties. The Ministry for Regional Development will gradually repair and add more functions to the systems in intervals of several days.

So far, on the Builder's Portal, users have prepared 2,500 applications for permits, and 284 have been submitted, according to Bartoš. The ministry has recorded a total of 8,000 registrations in the new building administration system.