Government To Increase Fines For Unauthorized Alterations

The construction officials have invented new ways to collect more fines from people.

It is planned to toughen penalties for unauthorized construction in Belarus, a specially created interdepartmental group is currently working on this. This was reported by the representatives of the Main Department for Control in Minsk of the State Control Committee during the question-and-answer session in Zavadskoy district of Minsk, onliner.by informs.

– Unauthorized construction in the capital is one of the most acute problems, – the head of the Main Department for Control in Minsk of the State Control Committee Siarhei Brouka said. – Only a year ago the Main Department for Control in Minsk started to tackle the problem of buildings which, as if being reconstructed, actually were used as a base for construction of blocks of flats. After that we inspected not only manor buildings, but also sites where other purpose facilities were constructed. And revealed many cases of unauthorized construction: houses were increased by several times - both in height and in the taken area.

It is worth noting that reconstruction and alterations of apartment without authorization also falls into the category of unauthorized construction.

– According to the information provided by the Minsk City Executive Committee, administrations of the city districts revealed 424 facts of unauthorized construction during 5 months of the current year, – the deputy chief of the Main Department for Control in Minsk of the State Control Committee Vera Matsulevich reported. – 326 of them were performed by individuals, 98 – by legal entities. For comparison: in 2015 845 facts of unauthorized construction were revealed: 674 and 171, respectively.

The absence of authorization issued by the State Construction Committee, significant deviations from the project, violation of town planning rules or regulations of the General Plan are on the list of sins. According to Vera Matsulevich economic lever for influencing such violators should be tightened.

– According to the Code of Administrative Offences of the Republic of Belarus the maximum penalty for unauthorized construction is 20 to 50 basic units for an individual, from 20 to 500 basic units for a legal entity, – she explains. – But the courts, as a rule, set a low administrative fine for legal entities - 20-50 basic units, which is quite disproportionate to the benefit that the builder of the object or the ordering party receive. For example, he built illegally 600 sq. m, and the fine is equivalent to the cost of one square meter. According to the decree of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus, a special interdepartmental working group was established to deal with the illegal construction. This group is working on toughening of the measure of the responsibility.