BUILDING BY THE CODE

In past years, many of the states of the former USSR, including our country, came up against a number of problems characteristic of the period of the construction boom. What it meant, essentially, was that the regulation of the construction sector was lagging behind its actual growth. Fortunately, our building industry has finally acquired a modern legal basis and after three years of debate the Milli Maclis adopted a final version of the Azerbaijani Town Planning and Construction Code.

One new is better than two old

The country's construction sector, which comprises some 1,500 companies and about 64,000 employees, has successfully got through the global economic crisis which led to a palpable slump in the industry in 2008-09, and in the past two years has confidently maintained a positive dynamic of development. According to the State Statistical Committee, throughout last year volumes of commissioning of housing in the country amounted to 1,922m sq m, which was 7% above the previous year's figure. As a comparison, last year 370,000 sq m more of housing were commissioned than in the more trouble-free pre-crisis 2008. This positive trend has also been maintained this year and in the first quarter there was a 27.5% increase in construction.

These statistics clearly show the achievement of the country's house-building industry, which is confidently adapting to changes in the market and successfully using the state investments in the capital construction sphere that are increasing from year to year. Now, this dynamic development has been given an additional powerful boost: the Azerbaijani parliament recently adopted one of the most modern and liberal acts of legislation in the construction sphere in post-Soviet times.

The drafts of Azerbaijan's Town Planning and Construction Codes were first tabled for discussion by parliament about three years ago. It was initially assumed that the Construction Code would regulate laws and standards of a technical nature and the Town Planning Code laws and standards of an aesthetic, cultural and architectural nature. However, the draft laws in many ways duplicated each other. The outcome was that MPs decided to merge the whole spectrum of questions in the construction sphere into a single code. The draft documents were improved and refined time and again through parliamentary committees on legal policy, state structure and economic policy. Finally, at the end of June, the code was endorsed at a third and final reading.

In drawing up the document which consisted of three parts and 79 items, consideration was given to the wealth of experience in this sphere of the states of the CIS and Europe. Its purpose is to develop the policy and powers of the state in the construction sphere, to define the rights and responsibilities of the participants in the market, to protect the interests of consumers and to inform the public about construction work in the country. The code also covers questions of town planning, including the long-term prospects of the socio-economic development of towns. It includes questions of town planning, defining housing, industrial, communal and other functional zones, the development of the production, social, transport and engineering infrastructure and protecting the environment and historical and cultural heritage.

Each of the three parts of the new code covers clearly defined areas of activity. For example, the first section defines state policy in the construction sphere, includes the general guidelines and principles of town planning and the standard technical documentation that regulates it. This section spells out the regulations, variants, objectives and content of physical planning in the country, and also sets the standards for compiling documentation and the participation of state structures in drawing up town development plans. Finally, the third section regulates the immediate process of construction activity, starting with obtaining a construction permit and ending with the handing over of the facility for commissioning.

Less bureaucracy - more permits

Alongside the merging of all rules and laws regulating construction activity into a single legal document, the functions of construction companies will also be monitored by a single state body. "According to the new law, the issuing of permits will be conducted according to the 'single window' principle: it will ensure both the transparency and simplification of the whole procedure," Ali Huseynli, the chairman of the parliamentary committee for legal policy and state construction, pointed out.

A survey conducted two years ago by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) reaffirmed that in our country obtaining a complete package of permits for construction activity requires about 31 procedures, which on average takes about 207 days. With the introduction of the "single window" system, the time taken in obtaining a permit and endorsing a project will be more than halved, and the number of documents required to carry out construction work reduced by a third.

A construction permit will be granted after the basic parameters have been checked: the conformity of the project with legal requirements and consideration of the opinions of the structures and individuals involved. And with regard to low-rise private housing (no less than three storeys and no higher than 12 metres), an entirely informative but not permissive procedure is applied. In other words, an individual contractor must ensure that the project design for his house is carried out by a licensed draughtsman, after which a single executive power body must be notified and presented with the plan. If no objections are raised against the project within the course of a month, construction work may commence without any permit. If objections and proposals are presented they must be taken into account and adjustments made.

At the third reading of the code MPs also tabled a number of additions and alterations, noticeably expanding the list of facilities, the construction of which has been completely relieved of the need to obtain any permits at all. Among others, the register includes single-storey auxiliary buildings covering an area of 50 sq m and a height of up to 5m, temporary constructions for habitation by no more than 100 people, wells and subterranean reservoirs with a depth of up to 5m and a volume up to 60 cu m and stand-pipes of up to 10 cu m.

Significantly, the construction of auxiliary buildings of an area of up to 100 sq m on areas for private dwellings is allowed. This list also includes agricultural buildings with an area of up to 100 sq m, fences up to 2.2 m in height, electric pylons and antenna towers up to 8m high, small architectural buildings such as kiosks, sheds, parterres, open sports grounds and playgrounds, open bus stops, and so on.

Individuals and organizations are also relieved of the need to obtain a permit to carry out the repair of buildings without altering the dimensions of the fa?ade, re-designing the engineering and communications networks and lines along roads and the construction of greenhouses and orangeries of an area up to 300 sq m.

At the same time, during the course of recent readings of the code, a number of buildings, the construction of which still requires a permit, were excluded from the privileged list. These include advertising billboards covering an area of up to 30 sq m, as well as bas-reliefs, memorial plaques, etc, erected on the front or roofs of buildings.

Another innovation provided for by the code is the setting up of a professional register of construction workers in the country. Henceforth, all individuals taking part in this process, particularly design engineers and experts and employees of repair and construction companies, must obtain a professional certificate. The details of each individual who obtains a certificate will be included in this register, which should ensure the security of construction work and help get rid of come-and-go people in this sector of the economy.

"The adoption of a single Town Planning and Construction Code has been a long-felt need," Ziyad Samadzada, chairman of the committee for economic policy, said. "The new law will simplify the procedure for the construction and registration of real estate, and also help to define the legal foundations and principles of construction work in the country and to denote more precisely the rights and responsibilities of state bodies, private individuals and juridical persons in this sphere of activity which is so important for society."

The adopted legislation will to a certain extent also help to resolve the problems of hundreds of dwellings built in recent years which have not passed state inspection, but where, nevertheless, thousands of people are still living. And, of course, it will tighten the control of civic society over town-planning and construction activity, thus ensuring transparency and protection of the rights of consumers.