April the 11th, 2022 - Digital Croatian building permits are on the horizon as the country finally turns to a more digital approach when it comes to its complicated and inefficient administration processes.

As Suzana Varosanec/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, digital Croatian building permits once seemed like a dream, but all such permits will soon all be issued and stored in a digital form, thanks to a project by the Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Property (MPUGDI), their close cooperation with numerous public authorities and of course - some European Uniion money.

The eArchive project “Digitisation of existing construction acts throughout Croatia” in the amount of more than 23.8 million kuna is being financed from the European Regional Development Fund and implemented through the “Spatial Planning Information System (ISPU) and its modules” project, which has a total value of 131 million kuna, of which 85 percent is being insured from the EU. As such, the period of issuing paper building permits is now being sent where it belongs - into the history books.

Millions of documents

Currently, these permits are stored in various archives, and in many cases the process of finding them, whether for regular people or investors, isn't easy, but the complete digital transformation of building permits is a turning point. Danijel Mestric, the Director of the Directorate for Supervision, Complaints, Information System Development and Digitisation at MPUGDA, noted that all location, construction and use permits issued since the establishment of the ePermit module back in 2015 have been stored in digital form. These number more than 3.2 million eDocuments dating from 1968 all the way up to 2015.

The move to create digital Croatian building permits means that the availability of this data to all people will be provided on the GEO portal of ISPU, where the data will be visible at the exact location of the building for which a permit was issued. Digitisation will also simplify the procedures for the reconstruction of buildings, as designers and clerks will be able to quickly access all of the necessary information and permits through the e-Permit system and other ISPU modules. Those who will readily benefit from the eArchive module are practically everyone in the country - the professional and scientific community, which means designers and speakers in municipalities and cities, as well as all investors and residents.

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ZAGREB, 13 July, 2021 - In May 2021, 835 building permits were issued, which was 9% more than in May 2020, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.

By types of constructions, 82.6% of the permits were issued for buildings and 17.4% for civil engineering works, up by 9.3% and 7.4% on the year respectively.

The permits issued in May 2021 envisaged almost HRK 3 billion worth of construction works, up by 12.7% on the year.

Based on the types of construction works, 75.8% of the permits were issued for new constructions and 24.2% for reconstructions.

The permits issued in May 2021 envisage the construction of 1,583 flats.

In the first five months of 2021, 4,931 building permits were issued, up 21.3% on the year, envisaging HRK 12.64 billion worth of construction works, up 21.1% from January-May 2020.

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June 14th, 2021 - A total of 850 building permits were issued in Croatia in April 2021, 15.8% more than in April 2020, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS) reported on Monday.

Based on the type of structure, 84% of the permits (714) were issued for buildings and 16% (136) for civil engineering works.

Year on year, the number of permits issued in April 2021 increased for buildings by 18%, and civil engineering works by 5.4%.

The value of construction work based on the permits issued in April 2021 amounted to HRK 2.17 billion, or 11.5% more than in April 2020, when the value of construction work was HRK 1.95 billion.

The value of construction work on buildings is estimated at HRK 1.56 billion or 2.6% more than in April 2020, while the value of work on other structures increased by 43.3% to HRK 611 million.

According to the type of construction work, 637 building permits or 75% were issued for new structures, while 25% or 213 were for reconstruction.

Based on the permits issued in April, 1,332 new apartments are expected to be built.

In the first four months of 2021, 3,556 building permits were issued, which is an increase of 24.6% on the year, and the works were estimated at HRK 9.64 billion or about 24% more than in the corresponding period in 2020.

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Coronavirus and everything to do with it has taken precedent, and rightfully so, above almost everything else. But while the backs of communal services and administrative bodies are turned, just what is going on? In Istria, illegal builders have taken advantage of the lack of attention being paid to them, and have begun work...

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 28th of April, 2020, for the past month and a half, the ban on working for caterers and those in the hospitality industry, as well as everyone who works offering services has been firmly in place, with eye-watering fines and even prison sentences on the cards for those who broke the rules, but the same wasn't done for construction work.

Work continued in Rovinj, Istria, without any fuss. This happened because of previously agreed investments and given deadlines, because it was easy to take advantage of the abundance of free time induced by the coronavirus pandemic, and to try to solving some of the accumulated backlog. However, according to local Istrian portal Glas Istre, it was done without the proper papers and without permits and licenses.

Investors behind this alleged shady behaviour likely believed that because attention was being drawn almost entirely to the coronavirus crisis, the attention of communal security guards would not be directed at illegal builders and their comings and goings.

''Over the past two months, we've recorded about thirty new facilities that have even come as far as to have roofs placed on them. We have visited a significant amount of them thanks to citizens' reports, and when we've been inspecting ourselves. I simply don't have any words for such behaviour because I'm not talking about just one or two isolated examples here and there, but about real new and fully illegal settlements,'' Rovinj's municipal utility manager Elvis Prenc told Glas Istre.

When asked where such "settlements" are located, he mentioned that they have been constructed in the southern part of the City of Rovinj.

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