In the area of Medulin in Croatian Istria, they have started demolishing illegally built buildings, the local municipality announced. After receiving the decision of the state inspectorate, the owners began to demolish the buildings themselves.
After the expert services of the municipality of Medulin found that some of the facilities were not legal, the local municipal police also checked the situation on the ground. The municipality reported the illegal buildings to the Croatian State Inspectorate, which issued a decision on the removal of six buildings.
The municipality of Medulin announced that the start of the demolition of illegal constructions is the result of their long-term efforts and cooperation with the state inspectorate. “We are glad that the municipality of Medulin finally got its turn and our fight against illegal construction was not in vain,” they also wrote down.
They added that they expected further demolitions of illegally built structures in the area and announced that they would continue to report illegal constructions.
The County of Istria has been drawing attention to the problem of illegal constructions for a long time on a website dedicated to stopping such constructions. More than 20 cities and municipalities from Croatian Istria are already participating in the initiative.
According to some estimates, there are 50,000 illegal construction sites in Croatian Istria. The majority of applications for illegal construction in the Istrian county concern the coastal area of the municipalities of Marčana, Ližnjan, Medulin and the cities of Pulj, Vodnjan, Rovinj, Umag and Poreč.
The owners of illegal buildings include both Croats and foreigners, including Slovenians, Germans, Austrians, and Italians. It is not known how many illegal constructions belong to Slovenes, because the state inspectorate does not keep records based on nationality.
This year, the building inspection carried out 3,700 inspections throughout the country. The inspectors issued 457 fines in the total amount of 3.28 million euros. They also filed 49 criminal charges for illegal construction in protected areas.
From April 2019 to June this year, according to the State Inspectorate, building inspectors performed more than 32,000 inspections and started more than 7,000 demolition procedures. So far, a total of around eight million euros in fines have been issued to the owners or to investors who did not demolish the illegal constructions themselves, as required by law.
Source: Rtvslo