All citizens who own illegal buildings will now, with the help of a new portal legalizuj.me, have a simple and transparent way to initiate the legalization process, while investors will have a portal gradjevinskadozvola.me enable faster and more reliable access to information and procedures for obtaining construction permits.
These two portals were created by the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property and officially presented them at a press conference today.
An important novelty is that the portals include a chatbot based on artificial intelligence — a service that represents one of the first examples of the use of AI-assistants in the provision of public services in Montenegro and significantly improves the availability of information to citizens in real time.
"These two projects should make life easier for Ministry officials who are under pressure to provide information, but also to facilitate access to this process for citizens and investors," said Minister Slaven Radunović.
The Acting General Director of the Legalization Directorate, Nikola Ražnatović, explained that the legalization process has been simplified for citizens in four steps on the legalizuj.me website, and they also have access to a list of all the documents they need, as well as the deadlines that must be met.
The first of four steps towards legalization is submitting a request on a form prescribed by the ministry, followed by a survey of the completed condition of the illegal building, proof of registration in the cadastre, and photographs of all facades of the building.
Ražnatović explained that the legalization process for buildings up to 500 square meters will be carried out by municipalities, and for buildings above 500 square meters by the Legalization Administration, which the Government will form by December.
"We can say that we are the first ministry to introduce artificial intelligence. The chatbot 'Maša' will answer questions, and if someone does not receive an answer, then it will redirect to emails and other contacts, where the requested data can be obtained," explained Ražnatović, adding that the complete documentation, once collected, must be submitted in person and cannot be submitted via the legalizuj.me website.
All contacts for institutions involved in the legalization process are available on the legalizuj.me website.
He said that, according to municipal data, citizens responded in large numbers to legalization and that over 1.000 requests were submitted.
Until the Legalization Administration is formed, as the minister explained, requests for buildings over 500 square meters are submitted to municipalities, which will later forward them to the Administration.
The minister said that even after the satellite survey was completed at the end of July, illegal construction continued, and that a ministry team is in Žabljak today to impose construction ban measures, and if it continues, the buildings will be demolished.
"At the end of October, we will receive data with satellite imagery, where we will be able to determine who is subject to legalization by July," said Radunović.
Radunović, responding to a question regarding the constitutional complaints filed due to the ban on real estate transactions, said that those who have legal properties should not be equated with those who have illegal properties.
"Our goal is not to reduce the number of people applying for legalization. We are certainly considering enabling traffic in certain procedures," said Radunović.
Acting Director General of the Directorate for Construction Boško Todorović said that the portal gradjevinskadozvola.me contains detailed instructions, necessary documents and addresses of institutions, and practical advice needed for obtaining a building permit.
The search explained the three-step procedure, which includes the process of creating and reviewing technical documentation, submitting an application and issuing a building permit, and the third step relates to the occupancy permit.
Todorović said that municipalities are responsible for buildings up to 3.000 square meters, and the Ministry for buildings above 3.000 square meters.
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