New building of Land Registry Department – largest investment in Zagreb's judicial infrastructure in the last decade

The ceremonial opening of the new building of the Land Registry Department of the Municipal Civil Court in Zagreb marked the conclusion of a two-year project of reconstruction and extension of the building from 1904, worth almost 100 million kuna.

In his speech, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković pointed out that land registers are important for everything we do in the judiciary and business environment, and for adhering to the fundamental principle of legal security.

''Confidence in the institutions and trust in the judiciary, this is extremely important in terms of respect for the fundamental principle of legal security. The fact that we are going to bring the judiciary architecturally and urbanistically together in one place is a signal of how important the judiciary is and how much the government cares about the working conditions of judges and other judicial staff", said the Prime Minister.

Speaking about changes in the judiciary, the Prime Minister said that before the start of EU accession negotiations there was a backlog of more than 141 thousand land registry cases, whereas today it is just over 8,000 cases.

The largest judicial investment in Zagreb in the last decade

Minister of Justice and Public Administration Ivan Malenica pointed out that the reconstruction and extension of the building of the former Vozarska barracks from 1904 for the needs of the Land Registry Department was the largest investment in Zagreb's judicial infrastructure in the last decade.

"Investments in judicial infrastructure are part of the development direction of the changes that we are implementing in the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration. In addition to legislative and organisational changes, digitalisation and judicial infrastructure are the backbone of development and improvement of the justice system. In the last few years, we have invested over half a billion kuna in the judicial infrastructure", said the Minister.

He highlighted the completed renovation of the buildings of the County Court in Šibenik and of the judicial bodies in Metković, and the ongoing reconstruction of the building of the former Standa Centre in Split for the needs of the Municipal Court in Split, worth about 78 million kuna, and the works on the building of the Municipal Civil Court in Zagreb, worth 133 million kuna.

New investment cycle worth about 2 billion kuna

Minister Malenica announced a new cycle of investment in judicial infrastructure, with an estimated value of about two billion kuna.

"Infrastructural changes are a prerequisite for achieving crucial changes in the judiciary. They are there in the service of other changes, organisational and legislative ones. It is only through the mosaic of these three types of changes that we can and must improve the judiciary to restore citizens' trust", the Minister concluded.

Ms Gallina Vincelette, World Bank County Director for the European Union, highlighted that, for many years now, the World Bank has been supporting the modernisation of the land management system in Croatia in order to improve its efficiency, transparency and cost-effectiveness. The most visible result of this joint work is the improvement of land registry services so that Croatian citizens can benefit from shorter processing time for land transactions and from numerous online services. Currently, 55% of requests for land registry services are submitted online. The modernised system will also support the exchange of land information between state institutions to facilitate the resolution of key developmental challenges, including adaptation to climate change and hazard mitigation.

President of Zagreb Municipal Civil Court Petra Kušević Fraculj thanked all the officials who participated in the relocation. She pointed out that a well organised land registration system is a prerequisite for the realisation of numerous investments. "I believe that our Department will continue to work in a dedicated, high-quality and efficient manner for the benefit of all of us, and that the new premises will bring an added value to the work of our service and judges", she said.

The new design of the building is the work of the architectural team of the company MORE arhitekture d.o.o. comprising Davor Bušnja as chief designer, Zrinka Mrković Mračić and Vedran Škopc, and the contractor was the company ING-GRAD.


 

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