The main corruption risk of the draft law No 5655 on reform of the urban planning sphere is its elaboration with violations of the principle of transparency and consideration of the public opinion.
This position is stated by the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) in a letter to the National Union of Architects of Ukraine (NUAU), the deputy chairman of the Architectural Chamber of NUAU Anna Kiriy told Interfax-Ukraine.
“The National Agency has always emphasized – both in its public position at the Committee’s November 28, 2022 meeting and in its informal communication with diplomats from the G7 countries – that the main corruption risk of the draft law is that it is not developed in an open and inclusive way, in violation of the principle of transparency and consideration of public opinion, established by the Law of Ukraine “On the Principles of State Regulatory Policy in the Business”, – said in a letter of NACA.
At the same time, the specialized committee of the Verkhovna Rada did not fully take into account the observations of the NAPC on the finalization of the bill at the meeting on December 9, the agency notes.
According to the NACC, the finalized bill still contains a rule that establishes the principle of tacit consent to restore the right to perform preparatory and construction works by the customer / contractor in the case of failure by the authorized person of the body of urban control for entry into the Register of construction activities to file a claim for termination of such right within 30 days from the date of the writ.
In turn, the National Agency recommended deleting this rule in the final version of the law.
The NACP emphasizes that its representatives did not participate in the meeting of the Profile Committee on December 9 and the Parliament meeting on December 13, when the law was passed, and therefore can not fully evaluate the extent to which its recommendations and comments were taken into account in the final version of the law.
The National Agency also never campaigned either for or against the bill, but conducted an anticorruption assessment and additional analysis of the bill with the provision of comments within its competence, the letter said.
As it was reported, on December 13, the Verkhovna Rada adopted as a whole the draft law № 5655 on reforming the sphere of urban planning. It was voted for by 228 deputies. A petition with a demand to veto the bill has collected more than 25 thousand signatures and is pending consideration by the president.
Earlier, on December 1, 2022, the bill was withdrawn from consideration by Parliament. The Association of Ukrainian Cities, mayors of cities, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy and the National Union of Architects of Ukraine insisted on its revision.
A petition demanding to veto the draft law No.5655 on reforming the sphere of urban planning, posted on the website of the President of Ukraine, has collected more than 25 thousand votes on the day of its adoption by the Parliament.
Now the petition should be considered by the head of state.
“New town-planning regulations under the guise of liberalizing the urban planning sphere and accelerating the construction actually untie the hands of large developers, who now do not have to go through checks from local authorities. Checks of construction and documentation of the project can be carried out by private firms, and the role of chief architects of the cities in this process is greatly restricted. If the law is adopted by the majority of deputies of the Verkhovna Rada at the next session, the process of chaotic development of our cities and the desecration of historical monuments will be accelerated,” – says the text of the petition.
As it was reported, on December 13, the Verkhovna Rada passed the bill as a whole #5655. It was voted for by 228 deputies.
Earlier, on December 1, 2022, the bill was withdrawn from consideration by Parliament. The Association of Ukrainian Cities, mayors, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC), the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, and the National Union of Architects of Ukraine insisted on its revision.
The National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC), after reviewing the finalized version of draft law No. 5655 on the reform of urban planning activities, assessed it as inconsistent with the anti-corruption strategy and recommends finalizing the draft law.
“According to the anticorruption strategy for 2021-2025 the priority spheres for introduction of anticorruption measures are determined, in particular construction, land relations and infrastructure. The problems in this area are determined, among others, by the imperfection of the existing instruments of control and lack of transparency in the construction processes. After reviewing the finalized version of the draft law, it was found that the proposed wording does not solve the problems identified and is therefore not consistent with the anti-corruption strategy,” – said deputy chairman of the NACP Andriy Vishnevetskiy in a letter to the specialized committee of the Verkhovna Rada, the agency “Interfax-Ukraine” got acquainted with.
Thus, the comments and recommendations of the NAPC among other things noted that the bill number 5655 does not provide a mechanism for remedying violations of the law identified through the implementation of supervision, there are no sanctions for the objects of supervision in the case of violations and it is not indicated how these violations must be resolved. There is also no procedure for cancellation of the right of construction obtained on the basis of submitted documents that contradict the urban planning legislation. That is why it is suggested to provide for a procedure of termination of the right for construction and annulment of permits in case of violation revealed by the supervisory authority.
The draft law No. 5655 suggests supplementing the law “On regulation of town planning activity” with new Article 383 and stipulating that a construction object constructed or under construction in violation of restrictions of land use cannot be considered as unauthorized construction if such restrictions are not stated in the town planning conditions and restrictions and/or are not included into the State Land Cadastre.
“The above circumstances practically legalize construction in violation of restrictions on land use. Regarding the availability of information about the restrictions of land use in the State Land Cadastre it should be noted that the information entered in the State Land Cadastre is incomplete, is in a state of creation and may not contain data about a particular plot of land,” reads the comments.
In this case NAPK recommends to provide as a reason for refusal to grant urban conditions and restrictions (UZK) inconsistency of data and information in order to obtain UZK to the requirements of urban planning documents, and during the development of projects and examination to establish compliance with the requirements of urban planning documents at the local level. In addition, NAPC filed a number of other proposals.
The Insurance Business Association together with the League of Insurance Organizations of Ukraine and the Kharkiv Union of Insurers supported the draft law “On introducing changes to certain legislative acts of Ukraine on reforming the sphere of urban planning” (No 5655) with the recommendation to adopt it at the second reading and in whole by the Supreme Council.
The relevant opinion of professional associations of insurers promulgated in an open letter, the association noted in a post on Facebook on Monday.
“The current text of the bill provides for liability insurance of authorized persons for urban planning control. Considering the international insurance and reinsurance practice, we consider it advisable to further extend such practice to performers of certain types of architectural and construction works, who take part in the creation of construction objects, namely architects, design engineers, engineers for technical supervision and the like”, – notes the General Director of the Association “Insurance Business” Vyacheslav Chernyakhovsky, whose words are contained in the message.
As reported, the bill number 5655 provides for the activities of the examination of design documentation for the construction expert organization and implementation of urban planning control at the prior conclusion of the contract of professional liability insurance, without the presence of which the activities of the expert organization and authorized person for urban planning control is impossible.
The Verkhovna Rada did not support bill No. 5125 on credit unions at a meeting on July 18 and sent it for a second second reading, People’s Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak said.
“They didn’t generally support (219) No. 5125 the new legislation on credit unions. They sent it to a second second (vote),” he wrote on the Telegram channel on Monday.
According to the report, 234 parliamentarians voted for such a decision, with the required 226 votes.
The Verkhovna Rada adopted in the first reading and as a basis bill No. 6383, which provides for the introduction of building information modeling (BIM-technologies) at all stages of the life cycle of objects.
“In most developed countries, BIM technologies are already actively used in the design of construction projects. In particular, for state orders, their use is mandatory. The Ukrainian construction industry still does not have a very high level of digitalization, and BIM technologies are still used in their activities of only a few organizations. Finally, we will change this and our construction will become modern,” Elena Shulyak, deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on the organization of state power, local self-government, regional development and urban planning, said on Facebook.
According to her, thanks to BIM technologies, it will be possible to gain access to any information about the construction site, control construction work at all stages, rationally use resources and significantly reduce construction costs.
As reported, the draft law also provides for the mandatory use of BIM technologies in the development of project documentation for the construction of facilities with the involvement of budgetary funds. In this case, a transitional period of five years is established.
Earlier in February 2021, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the concept for the introduction of BIM technologies.
