February 22, 2023 - Illegal construction has been rampant in Istria for years. It is estimated that there are almost 50,000 illegally constructed buildings on the Istrian Peninsula. And that will finally be stopped. In the area of Mandriol alone, the construction inspection closed 14 construction sites last week, and the City of Vodnjan issued decisions on the removal of these illegal structures.

As HRT writes, there are more than 3,000 such and similar facilities in the Vodnjan region. The city decided to put an end to this and punish illegal builders. Since the beginning of the year, communal wardens have made 300 reports on illegal construction.

"The fact that these construction sites are sealed is the result of about 50 applications that we sent to the construction inspection. This is initiated b,y us, and we see that it has an effect. I think it is the obligation of the city of Vodnjan to do it and to act like that", said Edi Pastrovicchio, the mayor of Vodnjan.

Communal wardens in the Vodnjan area are on site every day. They note about 20 illegal buildings daily. And in the construction inspection, they claim that they continuously conduct inspections in Vodnjan.

Illegal construction everywhere

Illegal construction has been a problem on the Istrian peninsulafor the last 20 years. Nevertheless, illegal construction occurred everywhere, on almost every part of the Istrian coast, even in protected areas. However, no one has yet paid the fine there either.

"We initiated criminal charges, and that was the only thing left to do. At the end of the day, we hope that we will stop illegal construction, at least in our protected areas, and that someone will bear the responsibility, emphasized Silvia Buttignoni, director of the public institution Natura Histrica.

Therefore, Natura Histrica and the County of Istria warned that the system is too lenient towards illegal construction.

"If the state, or the state inspectorate, does not have enough human resources, leave the authority to the regional and local level. I'm sure we'll be able to handle it, deal with it. The legal regulation in terms of punishment should definitely be changed", said Boris Miletić, the Istrian prefect.

Both the IDS and some Istrian cities and municipalities started a fierce fight against illegal construction. They launched a website - bespravnagradnja.hr where you can see the extent of such construction and report it.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated News section.

September the 21st, 2022 - There are a shocking 30,000+ illegally constructed buildings in Istria, and Labin Mayor Valter Glavicic has announced measures to combat such ''wild'' construction practices.

As Morski writes, the topic of the illegal felling of as many as six hectares of forest which stretches across the protected Labin-Rabac-Prtlog area by a private company called Mari Top from Zagreb has opened pandora's box when it comes to illegality in Istria. The subject was broached by not only the Labin Mayor, but also by the director of the Natura Histrica Public Institution, Silvia Buttignoni.

This led to discussions about illegal deforestation, subdivision, and of course, the topic that plagues Croatia - illegal construction. Unfortunately, the wider area of Istria County has been dealing with this for decades, but it was only a few years ago that the problem apparently came to the fore of the public's mind, as reported by Glas Istre/The Voice of Istria.

When the topic became much more of a burning one, local self-government unit leaders decided to tackle the problem more intensively, and now increasingly drastic measures are being announced. Local leaders are therefore asking the state to put the proper mechanisms in place in order to make it possible for them to finally start demolishing these illegal structures.

It is interesting to mention that the Labin Mayor, Valter Glavicic, also announced that they are keeping several suspicious locations in the wider area under surveillance and that the authorities will react by reporting any sign of illegal activities, all in order to start solving the problems from the very beginning. Unfortunately, all these plans are still no obstacle to private companies coming in to destroy forests and build illegal buildings everywhere.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated politics section.

July 4th, 2021 - A rally ironically called "Illegal Construction and Nature Devastation Festival" was held in Vruja cove between Pisak and Brela on Sunday to protest against illegal construction on the maritime domain and state-owned land.

Protesters raised their voice against Stipe Latković, a businessman from Split, saying that because of his friendships with former presidents Stjepan Mesić and Ivo Josipović and the incumbent Zoran Milanović, to whose campaign he contributed, he has been able to devastate Vruja for 20 years.

Despite numerous complaints, decisions and bans, Latković is continuing to build around the cove, they said, asking who could stop development in Vruja.

The protest has been supported by numerous public figures, including actor Rade Šerbedžija.

One of the protest organizers, Boris Dežulović, said the protesters demanded that Milanović be urgently removed from office "because he directly supports the occupation of Croatian territory."

The president recently defended Latković, calling those who criticized the businessman parasites.

The protesters also demanded that Latković be prosecuted for "occupying" the Vruja cove.

For more, follow our lifestyle section.

June 8, 2021 - Illegal construction on Čiovo near Trogir was stopped in just two days, a rare occurrence in The Beautiful Croatia. 

It seems that the efficiency of the state authorities' reaction to the devastation and construction without a permit on the maritime domain is finally visible, as illegal construction on Čiovo Island was stopped in just two days! 

Namely, construction without "paperwork" in Arbanija was stopped in what seems like record time, and, as Slobodna Dalmacija finds out, Polish citizens were in focus. 

The disputed interventions were reported to the county application "Pomorsko je dobro". Everything was forwarded to the inspection of the Ministry of the Sea, then to the State Attorney's Office, the Construction Inspection, and the Port Authority. 

The foreigners obviously understood and were convinced by numerous examples that there is not much order in the country and began demolishing and building without a permit and occupying the beaches.

"Massive works are taking place without a permit at the address Cesta domovinske zahvalnosti 101 in Arbanija. We checked in the Administrative Department for Urbanism and Physical Planning in Trogir that investors do not have a permit for works of this scope, nor do they have a registered construction site. It is an extension of a large annex in front of the existing building, on an area of ​​more than 120 square meters, on the beach not a meter and a half from the sea, spreading to the area of ​​maritime property - the beach!

Along the way, they entered someone else's property by tearing down someone else's wall, totally exposing the backyard of neighbors living in Germany. They thus exposed their belongings in the yard to possible theft because they tore down the wall and protective fence, without permission, and with an explicit written ban on demolishing that wall by the owner of the neighboring plot," reads the letter of concerned citizens, who add this :

"The current owners and contractors are Poles, who have only recently bought a house, the new owner of the house is a company from the Czech Republic, with one employee! The owner is the company "New generation sicars and service". They came to Croatia without any respect for our country, our regulations, laws, and inhabitants. We have forwarded the reports to everyone and we ask you for supervision and investigation in order to protect the maritime domain and prevent devastation and unauthorized changes to the maritime domain."

The County Department of Maritime Affairs and Tourism, headed by the elected Deputy Mayor Stipe Čogelj, in cooperation with the Mayor of Trogir, Ante Bilić, sent a municipal warden to the scene.

"We were on the field, made a report and stopped the works and fenced the construction site with tape. The owner of the property is a company from Poland, and the work was also done by Poles, alleged friends of the owner, who disappeared from the construction site as soon as we showed up. They do not have the necessary permits and papers for the buildings where the works were found, while the house as a separate unit is legalized. The pool should not even be located there because the boundary of the maritime domain has not been determined. They submitted additional documents to us, but none of that covers the works, so we are sending a construction inspection," said the city administration of Trogir.

Fortunately, not only was this taken care of but everything was brought to an even larger institution - the Ministry of the Sea, so the employees of the Port Authority of Split were ordered from the relevant headquarters to go out on the field:

"Please, on the basis of the application, perform an inspection, suspend further construction on the maritime domain, and prohibit the use and economic use, place an official prohibition sign, all in accordance with Article 43 of the Port Authorities Act!

All institutions, from the local, regional, and state level, reacted efficiently and quickly, with united forces, and now, after the ban on the works, we are waiting for the famous one - the return to its original state!

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