Slovakia: National Council speeds up compulsory purchase procedures

The procedure for PPP infrastructure projects such as roads, railways and factories in Slovakia is to be accelerated using special legislative measures.

Legislation passed on 11 December allows construction of key strategic infrastructure projects to begin on private land before the compulsory purchase procedure has been completed and without the landowner’s consent. The property settlement statement can now be submitted as late as during the use permit procedure.

The new law also:

• allows geometrical plans to be used for expert opinions and compulsory land purchase without authorisation from a cadastral office, which will reduce preparatory development work by several months;
• allows developers to provide the building office with evidence of their title and other rights to land as late as during the use permit procedure. This prevents delays to large developments caused by the need to complete details such as registration of contracts at the cadastral registry, court proceedings on owner determination, the inheritance procedure and compensation negotiations on compulsory purchase. This does not apply where the land is built on as the demolition of buildings have to be decided as part of the building procedure.
• allows compensation to be agreed with owners of residential buildings in the form of substitute land, or the purchase or construction of a replacement home, instead of in money;
• allows highway developers to pay up to 18 months’ rent between the owners leaving a residential building earmarked for demolition and moving into their replacement home;
• shortens the procedure for settling a case to 30 days and for remedy filing to 7 days;
• prevents parties and others from using procedural rules to create obstacles or unnecessary red tape or from invoking any unnecessary procedure;
• allows developers to register geometrical plans at the cadastral register.

Law: act on extraordinary non-recurring measures to speed up construction of selected highway sections in Slovakia