About 7000 of building permit applications submitted

ZAGREB, Oct 30 (Hina) - In just one month since 15 September, 7,748 applications to legalise houses and buildings constructed without a building permit have been submitted, which indicates that the new law dealing with illegally constructed buildings is being implemented successfully and citizens have seen this as the right opportunity to obtain legal building permits, Construction Minister Ivan Vrdoljak said at a press conference on Tuesday.

While the old law was in effect, an average of 1,583 applications were received in a month and now four times more applications are being submitted, Vrdoljak told journalists.

The minister believes the number of applications will continue to grow, seeing that 31,000 buildings have been issued with orders to either obtain permits by 31 December this year or they will be demolished.

He urged local authorities to get ready for a possible wave of applications for building permits and to deal with them and not create a bottleneck.