The Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal held a meeting with construction market participants dedicated to reforming the State Architectural and Construction Inspectorate.

The meeting gathered together Chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Reform Council of Ukraine Mikheil Saakashvili, Minister of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine Oleksii Chernyshov, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on State Building, Local Governance, Regional and Urban Development Andrii Klochko, construction market participants and construction associations’ members, MPs and others.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister, in particular, stressed the importance of discussing the concept of the reform with all participants in the construction market and presented the system of SACI reform. According to Denys Shmyhal, European experience was taken into account during the development of the reform. "Nowhere in Europe is there control over construction at the starting point, there exist city-planning norms and restrictions for which someone bears personal responsibility," the PM urged.

The essence of the reform, the Prime Minister reminded, is to create three central authorities, among which regulatory and supervisory functions will be distributed, instead of the SACI exercising excessive powers. "It is necessary to separate the control function, to abandon licensing as unnecessary, to take away control at the starting point and to introduce control only at a stage of commissioning", the Head of the Government accentuated.

According to the PM, it is critical to ensure fast implementation of the reform and adopt the relevant bills, which are mainly prepared. "Then the operation of the market will improve, and the construction process will be more effective, and we will manage to avoid illegal construction. It is vital to create similar rules of the game. Because business means competition. And these rules are the task of the authorities - the Cabinet of Ministers and the Verkhovna Rada," said Denys Shmyhal, urging participants of the construction market to join efforts and ensure faster implementation of the reform.

During the discussion, the Prime Minister also assured that he supports the introduction of a risk insurance system for the customer, investor and contractor. "For you, as market players, the money saved from corruption is a resource for insurance," the top official said. In addition, the Prime Minister backed the initiative of the MPs present at the meeting to establish a temporary Verkhovna Rada commission of inquiry to investigate corruption in the SACI, and agreed on the proposal of market participants to establish a working group to jointly develop proposals to the bill.