Dostalova makes last ditch pitch for single construction office

The Minister of Regional Development Klara Dostalova will make another push to abolish local construction offices as part of the new construction law that's due to take effect next year. Opposition to the idea from mayors across the country persuaded her boss, Prime Minister Andrej Babis, to let the existing municipal construction offices make decisions about smaller projects. Larger projects as well as strategic infrastructure projects would still be controlled by a network of state-run construction offices under the compromise version of the law. But it's a far cry from the original vision of the new construction law which was to create in which investors would need just one stamp from a single office to get a construction permit and that it would take just one year to get through the process. Dostalova revealed her new plan at a debate sponsored by the daily Hospodarske noviny. "Unifying the construction offices was the main pillar of the proposed bill that was supposed to speed up the permitting process," said Jiri Nouza, president of the Association of Construction Entrepreneurs. "In my opinion, the government made a mistake by backing down on it."