The government has submitted a package of three laws for the second reading in Parliament – on construction, spatial planning, and energy efficiency in construction. Referring to numerous comments and criticisms, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković stated that the Spatial Planning Act is “well-balanced.”
– We have, on one hand, de facto demands from a part of the public to favor investors here, and on the other hand, we have some of those representatives saying that too much construction is being prevented, which means that the law is balanced. Therefore, I would appeal to everyone to read it carefully, understand its context, and all that we want to do regarding the preservation of space and enabling investments – said Plenković.
Bačić: The Law is Not Written to the Measure of Interest Lobby
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Construction, Spatial Planning, and State Property Branko Bačić rejected the thesis that the law was written ‘to the measure of guild, lobbying, or interest lobby.’
In relation to the first reading, the final proposal of the Spatial Planning Act has removed provisions according to which spatial plans of areas of special characteristics or counties prescribe guidelines for the development of urban planning plans, i.e., the planning of municipalities or cities. A broader possibility for citizen participation in the development of spatial plans has been opened by introducing the possibility of additional consultation with the interested public.
The expansion of construction areas has been further limited in such a way that it is prescribed that prior consent from the ministry responsible for agriculture and forestry is required for expansion into forest areas and agricultural land. It is prescribed that areas for the construction of solar power plants cannot be areas of particularly valuable arable (P1) and valuable arable (P2) agricultural land.
Provisions regarding the process of urban consolidation have been completely revised, emphasizing the role of the public investor as the sole initiator of launching urban and infrastructure projects, and the adoption of a special regulation on the BIM project is foreseen.
The deadline for adopting the urban planning plan, i.e., for equipping the area with basic infrastructure based on the expression of interest from investors, has been extended from two to three years. The duty of resolving property-legal relations and settling the amount necessary for resolving property-legal relations for the construction of basic infrastructure has been transferred from the local self-government unit to the investor, and the misdemeanor liability of public law bodies participating in the development of the spatial plan has been removed.
Furthermore, the deadline for adopting new spatial plans has been increased from five to seven years, which does not apply to new generation plans adopted under the old law, and the deadline for retaining modular houses in camps within 25 meters of the coastline has been shortened to five years. In the maritime area, planning for new hydrocarbon exploitation fields, construction, or installation of solar power plants and wind farms is prohibited.
The provision defining what is considered the interest of the Republic of Croatia is expanded, public authority bodies are more clearly defined in such a way that “bodies that exercise ownership rights on construction land owned by the Republic of Croatia” are excluded from them, the concept of a new generation spatial plan is introduced, and professional bases in the spatial planning system are more precisely determined. It is prescribed that construction areas are determined based on social and economic and developmental needs according to generally valid spatial plans, which cannot be reduced based on special regulations unless otherwise specified by this Law.
Buildings for agricultural production that can be planned outside the construction area are defined in a more general way by referring to special regulations in the field of agriculture.
Regarding the Construction Act and the Energy Efficiency in Construction Act, the provisions of the final proposal have not been fundamentally changed compared to the first reading. The Construction Act specifies that the procedure for serious violations of the duties of authorized architects and authorized engineers, i.e., designers, is conducted in accordance with the regulations on chambers of architects and chambers of engineers in construction and spatial planning, and that the contractor is obliged to certify the statement on the completed works with a qualified electronic signature.
Report on Post-Earthquake Reconstruction: Reconstruction Completed on More than 14,000 Buildings
Minister Bačić also presented a report on the effects of the implementation of the Reconstruction Act in the area of the City of Zagreb, Krapina-Zagorje, Zagreb, Sisak-Moslavina, and Karlovac counties for the period from January 1 to June 30, 2025, in which, he said, a significant number of completed reconstructions have been recorded, both of private buildings and public purpose buildings.
By the end of June, reconstruction work was completed on a total of 13,556 buildings, and to date on 14,164, of which 13,369 with a total of 53,386 housing units relate to private property.
A total of 410 houses and 26 multi-family buildings have been built, and to date, more – 482 houses and 43 multi-family buildings. From the Solidarity Fund, 1,309 projects for the reconstruction of public purpose buildings have been contracted, and 1,167 have been completed. By June of this year, 435 structural reconstructions, 11,729 non-structural reconstructions have been completed, 63 family houses or apartments have been purchased instead of building replacement houses, 157 state apartments have been reconstructed and arranged, and 1,661 objects have been removed.
– By June 30, 3.9 billion euros have been allocated for the reconstruction of public and private property, of which 2.2 billion for Zagreb and 1.6 billion euros for the Petrinja earthquake. As of today, 4.1 billion euros. In the next year, 1 billion and 15 million euros will be allocated for the reconstruction process in the State Budget – said Bačić, also recalling the World Bank loan for the construction or reconstruction of six public purpose projects.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković emphasized that a huge job has been done. We are now halfway, and we need to complete everything else, he added.
