President: The new building office may not be able to fulfill its role; the permitting process would take longer

Publisher
ČTK
11.07.2026 21:15

Trenčín – President Petr Pavel considers it illusory that all about 7,000 people currently involved in the building permit process would move to the state building office. This is anticipated by the coalition amendment to the building law, which was approved by the Parliament on Friday. According to the president, it may happen that the new office fails to be adequately staffed. This could lead to the planned streamlining of the building process actually complicating it, as the entire process would be significantly prolonged. Pavel said this today to reporters in Trenčín, where he attended the multi-genre festival Pohoda with former Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová.

The amendment to the building law proposed by representatives of the ruling coalition aims to speed up and simplify the building permit process. It is primarily supposed to help by having the process handled by a single office.

The president said he is continuously monitoring the situation and that it was one of the central topics during all his trips across the regions. "During all the regional trips I have undertaken so far, it has been one of the central topics for local governments and for the governors, who are clearly concerned, similar to how they were prior to the adoption of the amendment to the law on the digitization of the building process, that it is not sufficiently well-prepared,” said Pavel.

"On the other hand, the idea that all about 7,000 people currently involved at various levels would transition into this category of activity is illusory. So it may happen that, while a single office will be established, it will be significantly under-staffed, which could lead to the planned efficiency actually complicating the entire process, as the whole process would be significantly prolonged,” the president stated.

Minister for Regional Development Zuzana Mrázová (ANO), who is responsible for the building law, previously mentioned that about half of the officials should move to the state office. The officials transitioning from the current building offices will at least retain the same salary scale and personal allowance. The minister had also indicated that she is considering a recruitment campaign.

Currently, according to earlier data from the Ministry of Regional Development, there are 638 building offices in the Czech Republic. After the adoption of the amendment to the building law and the establishment of a central building administration, there should be 205 territorial workplaces, 14 regional offices of territorial development, and one main Office for Territorial Development based in Prague.

The English translation is powered by AI tool. Switch to Czech to view the original text source.

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