September 1, 2023 – State Secretary in the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, Josip Bilaver, announced that usurpers of maritime property in Croatia will get 18 months to remove their facilities.
“This new law (on maritime property and seaports) provides that within 18 months from its adoption, local self-government units must clearly define, catalog, and report to the Port Authority and the construction inspection everyone usurping maritime property in Croatia. Then we will know exactly what the violations are, how many such objects there are, who did them and where, and within 18 months they must be removed from the maritime property,” said Bilaver for HRT/reported by Index.
“This government has shown that it is ambitious”
To the journalist’s claim that this deadline is very ambitious, Bilaver replied that this Government has shown that it is ambitious and that it successfully carries out its plans, so, he added, they did not want an alibi law but a law which will ensure they act with quality.
“Therefore, all facilities built after 2011, including embankments, must be removed. Until 2011, only those that strictly meet the criteria prescribed in Article 14 of the Law on Maritime Property, if such facilities are included in the spatial plan within four years, under certain conditions, will be able to remain in the space. So, for example, there are objects for which the ecological damage would be much greater if they were to be removed now than if they remained in the space, or objects that in no way endanger the safety of navigation at sea,” he said.
Inspections of Maritime Property in Croatia: Everything in Due Time
When asked what about the maritime control, the council on the maritime property, the new rulebook on granting concessions and by-laws that have not yet been adopted, Bilaver answered that the law was passed in the Parliament in mid-July, and that work is being done on a series of rulebooks and decrees, that are in contact with the units of local self-government, regional self-government and that everything “will be on time”.
“Next week we have meetings with county representatives, local self-government units will know clearly what, when, and within which time frame they need to do. The implementation of this good, high-quality law is important to us, but quality implementation is also important, and that’s why we wanted to have people in the field, in addition to the Port Authority and the communal wardens, who are much closer to the problems that occur in the territory of a certain municipality,” he added.
Speaking about the maritime controllers, Bilaver said that they have given the local self-government units two months to submit the names of the persons, who will undergo detailed training to learn what to do and how to act according to the new law.
