Improving the construction process is challenging, but possible. We have some societal challenges in front of us - climate change, more balanced distribution of national wealth, the growth of economic centers such as Prague, Brno and Ostrava - that will require a more effective construction policy.

For instance, the current significant delay in the construction permit process will prevent the rapid transformation to towns, housing, offices and factories necessary to combat climate change. The Czech Republic could set an example of effective governance for the rest of the region.

Like most governments before them, the Fiala government entered office promising to fix the construction process. It is needed. Czechia has been experiencing one of the highest housing price spikes in the EU. This cannot only be blamed on material costs, because other countries make their houses out of material, too. Developers, and consulting companies, blame the lack of supply, and say the lack of supply stems from an unpredictable and lengthy permit process.

The new government insists that undoing the previous government's reform and focusing on digitization will solve the problem. They face a hard fight on the first point, but could achieve the needed consensus on the second. 

On Monday, AmCham's real estate council met with the Ministry of Regional Development to discuss both the legislative reform and digitization. Experts from Finland joined the conversation to explain how they employed BIM and other digital tools to improve planning and streamline permitting. The conversation will continue next Monday. 

Thank you, Teemu Lehtinen of KIRAHub, Alexandra Zimt of the Ministry for Regional Development, Mika Lautanala of the Finnish Embassy in Prague, Martin Archalous of the Czech Pirate Party, Markéta Topinková of Squire Patton Boggs and Jakub Adam of Taylor Wessing for your participation and insights at our AmCham Real Estate Council discussion.