Montenegro, What is foreseen by the new legal solutions for space planning and construction of buildings?

New legal solutions for space planning, building construction, legalization and the Chamber of Engineers, the drafts of which are expected by the end of the year, will restore the issuance of building permits, delay legalization and divide plans into national and local. Spatial urban plans are returned to the municipalities, it was announced at yesterday’s session of the Committee for Tourism, Agriculture, Ecology and Spatial Planning.

As announced by the relevant minister, Ana Novaković Đurović, by the end of the year, working groups in the Ministry will complete draft laws for spatial planning, construction of facilities, legalization, while the draft for the Chamber of Engineers will be drafted by experts from this institution.

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She announced during the control hearing that these four legal solutions will replace the 2017 Law on Spatial Planning and Building Construction, which the members of this body concluded proved to be dysfunctional.

Dejan Đurović (DF) objected to the current law’s centralization and pointed out that new planning documents should be introduced for which the local self-government would be responsible, and the Government had given its consent. He believes that the Ministry does not have the capacity to issue planning documents at the state level and proposes the formation of agencies for planning and spatial planning at the local and state level. He also stated that the new law on legalization should be time-bound.

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• This means that there is no possibility that we will have the possibility of legalizing buildings forever. Once we have to stop with that practice. The law on legalization should formulate the institution of a directorate that would last, say, five years, and during that time they would legalize everything possible – said Đurović, adding that an estimate of how much legalization would cost per square meter of space should be given, and zones should be determined.
• The zone along the coast would be a luxury and the fee for it should be higher, because it is not correct to calculate the same along the coast as 500 meters from the coast. Determining the zones should be entrusted to the municipalities, under the control of the Ministry – said Đurović.

He is also asking for the refund of infrastructure fees for condos and four- and five-star hotels.

• We gave the opportunity to build a condo hotel, which the owner can legally use for two months and rent out the rest of the year. However, in practice, the apartments were sold as flats, and the utility fee was not paid. We had tens of millions of damages there – claims Đurović, and the minister said that the working groups were working on that.

She hinted that the new legal solutions are moving in the direction of decentralization and the formation of state and local agencies.

• Municipalities will prepare local planning documents, but there must be a certain control of state authorities – said Novaković Đurović.

Legalization

She also announced that she is still considering how long she will extend legalization.

• That work will be entrusted to local and state agencies in order to speed up the process, because we have a delay in submitting the list of facilities. It is also planned to increase the fee for the luxury zone – the minister said, announcing the return of the utility fee for hotels with four and five stars.

• As for the condo hotel, it must be systematically resolved in the law on tourism – explained Novaković-Đurović, who considers this important for the functioning of the Regional Waterworks, which was deprived of significant funds in this way.

• As for the fourth legal solution, the Chamber of Engineers approves the draft – said the minister and announced the introduction of a mandatory building permit, stressing that there will be no more improvisation.

She pointed out that in the new legal solution it will be defined that spatial plans are made by local self-governments and they will rely on the spatial plan of Montenegro, but MP Dejan Đurović added that the population census should be waited for adoption.

The minister said that the spatial plan has been completed in the form of a concept and that the council has given a positive opinion, which will be given to the public from next week for comments.

• We are going to a public hearing in order to come up with a draft that I think will be ready in the first quarter of next year. The adoption of the law then depends on the Assembly – said Novaković-Đurović.

They abandon the plan of general regulation

Minister Novaković-Đurović said that they plan to divide the general regulation plan, which was supposed to be done according to the existing law, into local and state documents.

• The process was stopped during the mandate of the previous government and the new legal solution in the form of a draft is divided into local and state documents, which excludes the general regulation plan. That is why we did not extend the contract to the team that worked on that plan until now – the minister pointed out, adding that she will change this position if she receives arguments, local media writes.