The minister rejected all changes to the Law on Spatial Planning and Building Construction

Yesterday, the Minister of Sustainable Development and Tourism Pavle Radulović rejected the possibilities for changes to the Law on Spatial Planning and Building Construction, which were requested by the representatives of the Union of Municipalities and the Chamber of Engineers at the parliamentary committee. The consultative hearing at the Committee for Spatial Planning, Tourism, Agriculture and Ecology was held based on the initiatives of the Union of Municipalities and the Chamber of Engineers.

The Secretary of the Union of Municipalities Refik Bojadžić requested that the proposal to amend Article 217 of the law be put on the agenda of the Assembly as a matter of urgency, which stipulated that municipalities can complete the development of urban plans started before the adoption of the new law, but no later than December 31, 2018. The community of municipalities has 17 proposals for amending the law, which is very controversial for them, but yesterday they demanded that this amendment be adopted urgently, in order to prevent the occurrence of greater damage and block the development of urban plans.

"The municipalities are in the process of drafting 83 urban plans, of which 63 are in the final phase. If the deadline for their preparation is not extended, on December 31, municipalities lose the right to work on them any more and they pass to the jurisdiction of the Ministry and the Government. If the deadline is not extended, there would be a deadlock, the ministry and the government would be overburdened, and the municipalities would have to pay the processors for something that goes back to the beginning," said Bojadžić.

Radulović said that the municipalities had enough time, but he understands that some do not have the capacity to make urban plans, which is why he is against extending the deadline.

"Since the entry into force of the new law, we have received 130 town planning plans from municipalities for approval. You know how many of them we sent back for revision due to mistakes or disagreements - all 130 of them. The Ministry will not initiate changes to the law, because the agony would only continue. MPs can do it if they want," said Radulović. The president of the board, Petar Ivanović, said that the session of the collegium of the President of the Assembly is in progress and that he will see if it can be included in the agenda. However, that proposal was not included in the agenda yesterday.

The Union of Municipalities also requested a new deadline for the legalization of illegal buildings, but the committee will discuss this and their other proposals later.

The representative of the Chamber of Engineers, Dragan Žarković, said that they have 18 proposals for amending the law, which would solve, as he said, many problems and illogicalities in its application. He stated that the law makes the role of the Chamber of Engineers meaningless and that 70 percent of the members left them. For them, the biggest problem is that companies that revise plans must have at least four engineers, because these are not profitable jobs that would cover their costs. They proposed to return to the earlier solution according to which one was sufficient.

Radulović said that this is not acceptable and that the only concession they can make is that retired engineers with a license can be hired.

Ivanovic said that the proposals of the Chamber of Engineers will also be at a special session next year.

Who gave licenses to bad planners, are eligible ones now being chosen?

Radunović stated that during the debate on the law, the Chamber of Engineers behaved not as a professional, but as a political organization.

"The progenitor of all problems in the destruction of public space is that the Engineering Commission issued licenses to planners. How many of them did you cancel two of them, and that if he doesn't pay the membership fee and not if he destroys the space. Just as much space was destroyed by wild construction as by planning with such planners. Look at what Budva looks like", said Radunović, after which he left the session due to other commitments.

The representative of the Chamber of Engineers, Miodrag Maraš, said that they canceled 2014 licenses until 14, and that after that year they could not carry out procedures.

"The minister is constantly calling for the destruction of space, but let him say which planners are to blame and who gave them the job. Not all of us worked like that. The author of the plan for the center of Budva, Miodrag Ralević, was twice deprived of his license," Maraš said.

He also questioned the way in which plan processors are now selected, stating that there is no tender and that suitable planners are selected.