Building companies ask for licenses to be issued in phases - additional control for every officer who puts application away for more than seven days

In order to revive construction works, the entrepreneurs suggest that building permits should be issued in phases, meaning that the construction can start as soon as the location permit is granted, while collecting of other documents runs parallel to construction.

That suggestion was given by the representatives of about fifty building companies (including Energoprojekt, Gemax, Monterra, Napred, Ratko Mitrović, Deneza, Duga, Partner inženjering…) who had the meeting with Oliver Dulić, the Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning, in the Government of Serbia in order to find the solution for the recovery of building industry, of which results dropped by about 40% in 2009. The meeting was attended by the Mayor of Belgrade, Dragan Đilas, and Milan Vuković, the Secretary of City Planning, since one of the primary problems is slow procedure of issuing building permits in the capital city, that is, changes in the new Law on Planning and Construction.

The second suggestion concerned the work of officers in charge of issuing permits. It was requested that additional control be introduced for each officer who puts the file away for more than seven days.

They also asked for commencement of conversion of rights to use of building land into the ownership right as soon as possible in order for them to be able to register as owners and submit requests for licenses.

– Our suggestions are estimated as constructive and they will, most probably, be accepted. The Law simplified the system of issuing licenses, but it takes much time for the officers to get used to that. Although the City Secretary says that the location permits are issued quickly and that the only obstacle are unresolved ownership relations, our experiences are different. That is why we suggested the representatives of the Ministry that some new provisions should be introduced to help the officers apply the Law more efficiently – says Đorđo Antelj, the owner of Gemax, who attended the meeting.