Despite strong opposition from the opposition and professional chambers, three laws regulating construction, spatial planning, and energy efficiency in construction will not be returned for a third reading in the Parliament, but the procedure for their voting continues, stated the Minister of Spatial Planning, Construction, and State Property Branko Bačić at today’s briefing with journalists. On this occasion, he thoroughly explained a series of legal solutions and dismissed criticisms that the package is being adopted in favor of investors.
According to him, the proposed law tightens some existing practices, especially regarding the division of ownership in hotel complexes and the placement of mobile homes in camps, and further restricts the expansion of construction areas. Regarding investors and the possibility of dividing apartments, he added: ‘If someone wants to build tourist villas, let them, in agreement with the local government, amend the spatial plan and build in a residential area, if the local government allows it.’
– According to the existing law, everything can be divided – both villas and hotel rooms. Mobile homes were placed in some camps right on the shore. In the future, they will not be allowed to be closer than 25 or 100 meters from the coastline, depending on whether it is a construction part of the settlement or not, and camps have five years to adapt. Also, the built-up area cannot exceed 30 percent of the camp’s surface, and a location permit must be obtained for mobile homes, and for that part, the adaptation lasts ten years. If this law is not adopted, such a situation will remain. I do not see how this can then be called privatization 2.0 – said Bačić.
He added that the possibility of construction outside the construction area on parcels of three hectares is also more strictly defined, which will in the future have to have agricultural activity and cannot be located in protected areas.
The minister emphasized that the Ministry accepted nine out of ten comments from the profession, expressing disappointment that, as he says, architects ‘who care about space did not recognize the efforts to improve regulations.’ He also stated that the disagreement with the Chamber of Architects is largely related to the issue of the relationship between strategic and implementation plans.
– When we started drafting, I said that the law would be a compromise and that it is not possible to accommodate all wishes. We want to protect space, but at the same time, we have a responsibility for economic development. We cannot wait for years for amendments to spatial plans – said Bačić.
Urban Planning Project
He particularly highlighted the new instrument, the urban planning project, which, according to him, the state will use only in the construction of public purpose facilities, in urban consolidation procedures, and in affordable housing projects. Thus, he claims, local government does not lose powers over space.
– We are doing this to dynamize spatial planning. The urban planning project will significantly accelerate processes – he said, adding that this instrument will be used outside the construction area only exceptionally, primarily where the state does not have enough land for affordable housing. He also emphasized that cities can independently prepare affordable housing projects.
He commented on the deadlines for adopting the UPU, emphasizing that they are reduced to three years with the aim of encouraging local governments to actually adopt plans, so that citizens do not wait for years for the possibility of building on their own parcels. – At this pace, as UPU has been adopted so far, all would be completed only by 2053 – warned Bačić.
Bačić also explained the method of implementing urban consolidation: it will be carried out exclusively in construction areas and only in zones where the UPU provides for such a possibility, thus it is not possible without the participation of local government. Along with the state, the county, and the city or municipality, the procedure can also be initiated by 51 percent of landowners. Consolidation, he emphasized, is not a mechanism for expropriation, but a tool for better shaping of parcels. The state will, where it has land, relinquish part of the parcels in favor of road construction and other infrastructure.
He concluded that the law preserves space and also introduces the obligation of an architectural-urban competition, which, he says, is one of the key demands of architects that the Ministry has accepted.
