Pig Breeder ‘Wasted’ 50 Thousand Euros Due to Non-Existent Power Line

Recently, I visited a pig farm in Mičevac near Velika Gorica owned by Tomislav Haluga. We arrived at this farm based on a recommendation from the Advisory Service (as part of the Ministry of Agriculture), for which I was preparing a report, and there I learned about another poor example of bureaucratic governance in our country.

Tomislav’s father Ivica, an exceptionally pleasant gentleman and a jokester who knows a lot about pig breeding, welcomed us, which I wrote about in the report. However, he also told me how he had to invest about fifty thousand euros more than planned when he built the farm he opened last June. Its capacity is 120 sows and between 2500 and 3000 fatteners per year, and it is now at 80 percent occupancy.

Namely, he was not allowed to move the farm closer to the non-existent power line. To cut a long story short, Ivica explains, the Sava River is near the farm, and it was decided about 50 years ago that it would be navigable. The riverbed needed to be dredged, and since the construction of a river port was also planned nearby, it was necessary to build a railway and (more importantly for this story) determine the location of the power line. As we know, unfortunately, none of the aforementioned has been done.

Well Received…

Regardless, the urban planning documents still state that there will be a port with a railway at that location, as well as a power line that was supposed to be installed near the current pig farm of Tomislav and Ivica (Ivica has since transferred the family farm to his son Tomislav). When Ivica applied for a building permit a few years ago, he was told that the corner of the farm must be at least 120 meters away from the location designated for the power line.

This meant that the farm building had to be moved 30 meters away from the originally planned location opposite the non-existent power line; however, since there were large holes at that location (where the farm was supposed to be ‘moved’), Ivica would have to hire trucks to bring in large amounts of gravel to fill them. Additionally, it needed to be well compacted because a part of the building was planned for that location if he had to ‘move’ the farm.

Ivica found himself in an awkward situation, wondering how to save 50 thousand euros. He thought he should try everything, so he called HEP and arranged a meeting with the directors responsible for the construction of the power line, investments, and similar matters. They received him very well, which he did not expect as a livestock farmer dealing with pig breeding. He asked them if it was possible to move his farm 30 meters closer to the (non-existent) power line.

HEP’s executives immediately agreed, aware that a power line would probably never be built there, and they themselves suggested that they would write and sign a document stating that HEP agrees that Ivica can move his farm to 90 meters from the power line. Ivica only had to agree not to cause problems if, by some miracle, the power line were to be built in the future. Of course, he agreed to that.

… but all in vain

He invited HEP’s directors for a gablec to thank them, but they politely declined due to obligations, so Ivica, as he himself recounts with a slight ironic smile, joyfully rushed to the Velika Gorica office responsible for spatial planning to submit his application for a building permit, attaching the signed consent from HEP’s executives.

Happy and in good spirits, he attached that document to his building permit application, but he was met with a cold shower. In the office, he was told that those signatures from HEP were worthless. They only provide consent, but according to the urban planning scheme, the power line is still designated for that location, and the regulation states that the building must be 120 meters away from it.

Nothing could be done, so Ivica had to move the building location exactly as the regulations prescribe, spending about 50 thousand euros to fill the holes. This example could be useful for other local communities to revise their urban planning schemes so that some entrepreneur does not experience a fate similar to Ivica’s.

POST SCRIPTUM

Since it usually took Ivica several years to ‘fight’ for a building permit, he was forced to request confirmation from Hrvatske vode seven times that the farm would not pollute the groundwater. The validity of the confirmation is six months, and since the issuance of the building permit was progressing too slowly, the validity would expire. – It is not Hrvatske vode’s fault, but a bad regulation. I do not understand why this confirmation must be renewed, because if Hrvatske vode confirm once according to the building documentation that I will not pollute the Sava, then that should be valid forever. When I came to Hrvatske vode, they already knew me well, as if I were a local – Ivica recalls with irony.