Draft amendments have been developed to the Cabinet regulations No. 112 "General Construction Regulations",

      whereby large investment projects with the volume exceeding LVL 5 million will be entitled to construction permits

      

      by stages of construction works, if there is a design project developed and approved for the whole of the construction and the technical project for the respective stage of construction works, and both the design project and the technical project of the respective stage wil l be subject to the construction project expertise.

      Currently the Construction Law stipulates that prior to commencing construction works the construction commissioner or constructor needs to obtain a construction permit according to the procedure stipulated under the General Construction Regulations. Meanwhile, the Cabinet regulations prescribe that a construction permit may only be obtained on the basis of approved technical project, rather than on the basis of the design project only. Consequently, the investment process for large constructions currently is very protracted, since the construction designing process may last for several years.

      The construction designing at the level of the technical project for major construction projects is ordinarily carried out in stages and the technical projects of specific stages are often prepared before completion of the whole of the technical project. Thus for major construction projects certain construction stages could be commenced already before the completion of the designing for the final stages.