Construction and Regional Development Minister Marian Janusek said he will not, under any circumstances, withdraw the draft bill on measures pertaining to the preparation of strategic construction projects from the next Cabinet meeting. This was the minister's answer to a collective protest by four non-governmental organizations, which asked him to withdraw the draft from the Cabinet's agenda and send it for regular interdepartmental review. In order to speed up construction of highways and other strategic constructions the law would introduce new rules for expropriation of private land for money, which appear somewhat controversial. According to President Ivan Gasparovic, who met with the minister earlier on Tuesday, public interest should always get precedence [over private interests] regarding strategic construction projects, but he underscored that the interests of citizens and landowners must always be observed.
The minister stressed that this is a draft bill that should help to solve property and legal processes pertaining to the preparation and realization of strategic construction projects. The ministry was to prepare it based on a Cabinet resolution of last October. A commission was set up of representatives of several ministries and the draft they formulated went through regular interdepartmental review. In reaction to the collective protest, Mr. Janusek said that there has been no violation.
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