Sunday, 09 March 2025 17:55 
📊Transparency in Urban Planning: How to Overcome Corruption Risks?
An analysis of corruption risks in urban planning and mechanisms for their detection and elimination was discussed on March 6, 2025, during a webinar organized by the Confederation of Builders of Ukraine (CBU) in cooperation with the law firm SEMPRA LAW.
✔️ The event was moderated by Oleksandr Chervak, CEO of the CBU. He announced that CBU had received a request from the relevant parliamentary committee for information that would help identify key challenges and issues in urban planning and construction.
Mr. Chervak also reminded participants about an anonymous survey on this issue and encouraged everyone to contribute to formulating proposals for overcoming corruption risks, their further discussion, and resolution.
🌐 CBU invites everyone to share their experiences and participate in an anonymous survey on corruption risks in urban planning. The survey (Ukrainian language) is available at:
https://forms.gle/f5mhwDj95jdYT7uCA
👤 Olga Sydorchuk, Head of the CBU Committee on Normative and Legislative Activities, Head of SEMPRA LAW, and a member of the CBU Board of Directors, informed participants about the main corruption risks in urban planning, including:
🔹 Lack of transparency in the approval procedures for urban planning documentation (general plans, detailed plans of territories);
🔹 Abuse in issuing initial data for design (urban planning conditions and restrictions, technical conditions) and construction permits;
🔹 Insufficient control over compliance with urban planning legislation and the lack of strict accountability for officials.
Based on a preliminary survey, Ms. Sydorchuk presented interim statistics on risks at different stages of urban planning activities.
📈 One of the highest corruption risk percentages was identified in obtaining urban planning conditions and restrictions, acquiring the right to carry out construction work, commissioning buildings, and developing and publicly discussing urban planning documentation at the local level.
The majority of these risks occur at the level of local governments. According to Ms. Sydorchuk, this is due to broad discretionary powers, the lack of effective control, and the complex procedure for appealing officials' actions.
Olga Sydorchuk introduced tools for identifying corruption risks, such as:
🔸Public audits of urban planning documentation;
🔸Involvement of independent experts and public organizations in decision-making processes;
🔸The use of information technology to ensure transparency (e.g., the Urban Planning Cadastre, the Unified State Electronic System in Construction).
Necessary changes to eliminate corruption risks include:
👉 Improvement of urban planning legislation (adoption of new laws, amendments to existing ones);
👉 Increasing transparency and openness in decision-making procedures;
👉 Strengthening control over the activities of local authorities.
👤 Olena Shuliak, Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on State Building, Local Governance, Regional Development and Urban Planning, and Head of the "Servant of the People" party, stated that 90% of urban planning documentation is approved behind closed doors — without any real public oversight.
According to her, one of the key corruption schemes in construction involves manipulations with urban planning conditions and restrictions (UPCRs). These documents have long turned from a mere formality into a commodity with a clear shadow price, opening doors for those willing to pay.
Ms. Olena emphasized that corruption in urban planning amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit cash, reinvested to sustain the system.
Without a radical legislative reset, without transparent and fully digitalized procedures, all efforts seem like an attempt to repaint a collapsing building in bright colors.
It is time to truly break this system. Otherwise, instead of modern European cities, we will continue to have nothing but corrupt facades.
☑️ During the discussion, all participants had the opportunity to share their experiences and thoughts on corruption risks in urban planning.
👤 Ivan Shpylevskyi, an industry expert, noted that the main corruption risks include determining the cost of urban planning documentation, the preparation of tender documentation by the client, the misinterpretation of urban planning document types, and the selection of tender winners. He emphasized the need for legislative changes regarding the procedure for determining the tender cost of developing urban planning documentation to ensure equal conditions for all participants.
👤 Oleksii Komandyrov, Head of the Department of Construction and Technical Expertise at the KYIV SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF FORENSIC EXPERTISE, proposed involving experts from the judicial expert community in discussing this issue.
He noted that relevant experts have insights into the areas with the highest corruption risks, which later turn into criminal cases, and expressed his readiness to cooperate in addressing this issue.
👤 Serhii Dakhnovskyi, a partner at JN Legal, pointed out that one of the corruption risks in urban planning is the denial of urban planning conditions.
He mentioned that in Kyiv, refusals to issue urban planning conditions sometimes occur due to spelling errors in documents.
Moreover, the justification for denying UPCRs based on the non-compliance of construction intentions with urban planning documentation requirements (as per Article 29 of the Law of Ukraine "On Regulation of Urban Development Activities") remains unclear - specifically, how this non-compliance is actually determined.
Mr. Dakhnovskyi suggested that legislation should allow applicants to receive the graphical part of urban planning documentation along with UPCRs, as the Urban Planning Cadastre is currently unavailable in open sources.
We thank all participants for their willingness to contribute to the development and improvement of the construction industry!
🌐 The full video recording of the webinar (Ukrainian language) is available at:
WE WILL WIN AND REBUILD EVERYTHING! 💪
TOGETHER TO VICTORY!
GLORY TO UKRAINE! 💙💛