Minister Bačić: Zagreb authorities' pressure on ministry unacceptable

Hina - Construction Minister Branko Bačić on Monday described the convening and subsequent cancellation of a Zagreb City Assembly session, due to the lack of ministry approval for proposed amendments to the General Urban Plan (GUP), as an unacceptable act of pressure on his ministry.

"It is unacceptable that pressure is being exerted on us by convening a session of the City Assembly without first obtaining the ministry's opinion on the amendments to the General Urban Plan (GUP)," Minister Bačić said at a press conference.

Commenting on Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević's remark that "the GUP situation is pure harassment by the ministry", minister Bačić said that the ministry has not collaborated as intensively with any other local government unit as it has with the City of Zagreb.

"If 'harassment' means resolving property-legal issues after 27 years, enabling the registration of the City of Zagreb on the land where the Maksimir stadium is to be built, or resolving ownership matters after 40 years on the site of the planned new children's hospital in Blato, or our daily cooperation with the City on post-earthquake reconstruction, in which over two billion euros has been spent - then many mayors and county prefects would probably wish for such 'harassment'," the minister said.

In response to journalists' questions, minister Bačić said that his ministry has never rejected a proposal for Zagreb's GUP.

Rather, he pointed out, the ministry had been waiting for a supplementary document requested from the Zagreb authorities. Once it was received, only recently, it was determined that neither that version complied with several laws, he said.

Minister Bačić rejects the claim that withholding approval was politically motivated.

"On two occasions, we stated that the City had not fulfilled the ministry's requirements concerning the Spatial Planning Act. It wasn't until 2 April that the City submitted complete documentation that enabled us to give our opinion," the minister explained.

Given that the government today officially adopted the decision to call elections for 18 May - a decision that comes into effect tomorrow and dissolves all representative bodies - the GUP will be adopted by the new City Assembly.

Minister Bačić emphasised that there are still numerous spatial planning documents from various local authorities that arrived at the ministry for review before Zagreb's, yet have not received approval. "Out of 105 that we have processed, we did not approve 25. With the dissolution of representative bodies tomorrow, these spatial plans will be passed on for adoption by the new assemblies," he added.

Minister: We will grant or withhold approval after receiving opinions from other authorities

"We will request a position from the Ministry of the Interior, specifically the Civil Protection Directorate, regarding the fact that the draft amendments to the GUP do not include measures that incorporate disaster risk reduction elements in spatial planning and operational response - such as defining emergency service corridors or the impact on critical infrastructure," he said, adding that these provisions are outlined in the Croatian Strategy for Disaster Risk Management until 2030.

He went on to say that an opinion would be sought from the relevant directorate at the Ministry of Economy, concerning the alignment of the GUP with Croatia's energy development policy, specifically relating to sustainable waste management.

Minister Bačić also pointed to non-compliance with the Inland Navigation and Ports Act, which designates the Sava River as a navigable waterway -implying the need for regulating the Sava's course.

Minister Bačić added that the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure had asked for a clarification on this matter and also highlighted that the Croatian water management "Hrvatske Vode" company's objections regarding water management had not been addressed.

Minister Bačić pointed out that the ministry had noticed that the Zagreb GUP deviates from the proclaimed goal of the Republic of Croatia to provide affordable housing.

"The coefficient of land development and utilisation for residential construction is being reduced by 33%. The City of Zagreb has the authority to do this, but such an approach reduces the housing space in future residential construction, and this simply means that it will reduce the supply of apartments and contribute to further price increases. I repeat, the City of Zagreb has the right to say that this is done in order to increase green spaces, but it would be correct to find compensatory measures, new zones, following the example of many world metropolises," the minister said.

He announced that this would be defined by a new law, which is expected to be passed by the end of the year.

Minister Bačić also highlighted the "poor" situation with traffic in the city and the lack of parking spaces, and pointed out that the GUP does not foresee a single new public garage. The minister's general view is that, considering the 10-year lifespan of the GUP, the Zagreb city government should have created a new General Urban Plan, rather than patching the existing one, which is 18 years old, with changes to a vast number of articles.

"It is obvious that politics has prevailed over expertise, and this has led to this saga and bickering, which, in our opinion, is pointless," minister Bačić said.

When asked whether the ministry could have requested the opinions of all the bodies it has now mentioned earlier, the minister said that they were initially focused on aligning the GUP amendments with the Spatial Planning Act and repeated that the City of Zagreb had only submitted the final proposal 12 days ago.

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