On the first of July, the Ministry of Regional Development launched the builder’s portal for the public and the construction management information system for officials. Both connected systems are part of digital construction management, which is envisaged by the new construction law. It will contribute to shortening building permits and simplifying the work of officials at building authorities. Thanks to the digitization of construction procedures, builders will receive all permits and statements online. The systems are connected to state databases, so a number of forms are filled out for the user, who also always has an up-to-date overview of the state of the management.
From the first of July, builders upload project documentation, with exceptions, through the builder’s portal. By the eleventh hour, over 2,106 had signed up, processed 547 applications and submitted 36 of them. Over 4,000 officials across the Czech Republic had signed up to the construction management information system by 3 p.m. “From a technical point of view, the start was successful and the digitization of construction management is working. We are not aware of any system outages. Several authorities reported difficulties, but it was not a failure of the information systems,” said Ivan Bartoš, Deputy Prime Minister for Digitization and Minister for Regional Development, describing the start of digital construction management. “In some cases, local network administrators did not correctly assign roles to officials. Our call center has already helped some authorities solve these initial problems, and administrators also have a detailed manual available from us,” added Petr Klán, director of the Department of Digitization and Information Systems at MMR.
The builder’s portal allows you to submit an application, upload documentation or communicate with the authorities online. It is a web application that can be run on a regular internet browser on a computer, tablet or mobile phone. It is connected to the information system for officials. As a result, the documentation will not circulate among several authorities and concerned authorities, but everyone will have access to it from one place and it will always be up-to-date. This will simplify and automate much of the approval process. The authorities will share information with each other and the repeated requests for filling in by the citizen will disappear. The entire procedure will take place digitally, therefore the need to print construction documentation and the associated costs will no longer be necessary. The information system for officials is also linked to the real estate cadastre or the Register of Territorial Identification, Addresses and Real Estate (RÚIAN) and other state data sources. As a key part of the new construction law, digitization will contribute to shortening the duration of permits and has a significant economic benefit.
In order to ensure the greatest possible comfort when working in the new system, the Ministry secured over 208 million crowns from the National Recovery Plan and 43 million from the state budget for the purchase of new IT equipment for construction authorities. Thanks to central purchasing, municipalities have reduced administration, and the equipment is also about half the price compared to retail prices after a volume discount. The equipment is free for authorities. It is about 4,500 computers and 9,000 32-inch monitors for easier work with construction documentation.