(07 October 2015) Today, the Minister of Environment and Physical Planning Nurhan Izairi, participated in the First International Forum on the reform of the system for building permits issuance in Southeastern Europe on “Reform of building permits for more competitive regions”.
Minister Izairi had his address in Panel I concerning introduction of electronic system for building permits issuance.
Pointing out that the Republic of Macedonia has made significant progress in simplification and shortening of the procedure for building permits issuance which enabled greater competitiveness and lessening of administrative barriers, he underlined that the protection of the environment was integral part of the building permits issuing procedure, as prior procedure the efficient implementation of which determines the outcome of the process of building permit issuance. Further on, Minister Izairi explained the procedure of environmental impact assessment for projects and plans, known as EIA procedure, implemented in the Republic of Macedonia since 2006, starting as early as at the level of idea and prior to the development of basic designs..
“I would like to remind you all that the protection of the environment is integral part of the permitting procedure for building and failure to observe it will make development decisions unsustainable. At the beginning, these procedures might seem to slow down the overall process, but later on the assessments of the impacts of projects and plans on environment and human health proved to stimulate influx of high quality and serious investors in the country”, said Izairi at the end of his address.
The International Forum has offered possibilities to ministers responsible for issuance of building permits in the region (with their close collaborators) to exchange experiences and discuss the implementation of the reforms related to building permits towards common building of more competitive region.