President Zeman signed a one-year postponement of the operation of the Supreme Building Authority

Prague – President Miloš Zeman today signed a change to the new construction law, which postpones the establishment of the newly created Supreme Building Authority and the regional building authorities organized under it by one year. This was reported by the Castle. These authorities were supposed to start functioning under the state from mid-next year and were to replace the existing municipal building authorities. The government coalition is currently preparing a substantive amendment to the construction law, which will abolish the establishment of the Supreme Building Authority and retain some building authorities under municipalities.

The amendment stipulates that only the Specialized and Appeals Building Authority will start functioning from mid-next year. It will be responsible for large infrastructure projects, such as highways, nationwide railways, or power plants. Other construction projects will be subject to approval according to existing regulations until June 30, 2024. The digitalization of the construction process is postponed for six months to January 1, 2024, as the original deadline cannot be met according to the Ministry for Regional Development.

While the Chamber approved this change in the law despite the opposition's disagreement, the Senate did not directly approve the amendment. After the relevant period elapsed, it was then submitted to the president for signature.

The current government is preparing a substantive change to the new construction law, which, among other things, retains some building authorities under municipalities. The amendment abolishes the Supreme Building Authority and the regional building authorities subordinate to it because, according to the Ministry for Regional Development, it would be unnecessarily expensive and impractical. This amendment should be submitted to the government by the end of June after addressing the comments. The Ministry for Regional Development expects that the Chamber could start discussing it in the fall. The coalition has so far agreed that 371 building authorities should operate primarily within regional authorities and municipalities with extended powers, while 244 building authorities would be abolished from mid-next year.

The new construction law has been in preparation for several years. The government of Andrej Babiš (ANO) hoped for faster construction processes thanks to adherence to set deadlines. The law aims to transfer all existing building authorities from municipalities to the state and create a state building administration. According to former Minister for Regional Development Klára Dostálová (ANO), the territorial offices of building authorities would remain where they are now, as detached offices. On the contrary, the government coalition argued that the construction law would cause a collapse of the construction process and distance building authorities from citizens.

Former Minister Dostálová already mentioned in the Chamber the example against the adoption of the new regulation that, for instance, highways would be built according to the new regulation, while first-class roads would be built according to the existing law. She again emphasized the advantages of the new legal regulation that the government is trying to postpone, such as unified methodological guidance for building authorities and the end of various approaches by different authorities. She repeatedly argued that officials would be interchangeable. It should not happen that in the case of an authority with one official, if that official falls ill, the authority would close.