Free Urban Planning Documentation (UA0060)

Event: Provision of free public access to urban planning documentation; Implementation timeframe : 2017-2018; Entities responsible: Ministry of Regional Development, Ministry of Defense, local state administrations, local government authorities (by consent), commercial entities in the field of the development of urban planning documentation (by consent).; Partners: East Ukrainian Centre for Civic Initiatives and Eidos Centre for Political Studies and Analysis non-governmental organisations, other civil society institutions and international organisations (by consent).; Expected results: Ensuring the: Development of a draft law on amending article 18 of the Law of Ukraine “On the regulation of urban planning documentation (December 2017) and submission of the draft in accordance with established procedures for consideration by the Government. Compliance of the structure and content of urban planning documentation at the local level, as it concerns restricted access information, with legislative requirements for openness (December 2017). Development and implementation of the first stage of the software and hardware system for the urban planning cadastre at the state level, launch of the trial operation of the information system (June 2018).

4. Provide free public access to urban planning documentation

Commitment Text:

Provision of free public access to urban planning documentation.

Expected results: Development of a draft law on amending article 18 of the Law of Ukraine “On the regulation of urban planning documentation (December 2017) and submission of the draft in accordance with established procedures for consideration by the Government. Compliance of the structure and content of urban planning documentation at the local level, as it concerns restricted access information, with legislative requirements for openness (December 2017). Development and implementation of the first stage of the software and hardware system for the urban planning cadastre at the state level, launch of the trial operation of the information system (June 2018).

Responsible Institutions: Ministry of Regional Development, Ministry of Defense, local state administrations, local government authorities (by consent), commercial entities in the field of the development of urban planning documentation (by consent).

Supporting Institutions: East Ukrainian Center for Civic Initiatives and Eidos Center for Political Studies and Analysis non-governmental organizations, other civil society institutions and international organizations (by consent).

Start date: December 2016..                                     End date: August 2018

Commitment Aim:

This commitment aims to provide free public access to urban planning documentation. The government planned to develop the relevant draft legal amendments on the regulation of urban planning documentation. Such amendments would ensure that the structure and content of urban planning documentation complies with legal openness guidelines. The government also planned to develop and execute a trial operation for software and hardware systems for an urban planning cadastre.

Status

Midterm: Limited

By midterm, the commitment saw limited progress. The government has developed two relevant draft laws. Draft law #4585 is On Amendments to Some Laws of Ukraine on Improving Urban Development. [69] Draft law #6403 is On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine On the Regulation of Urban Development Activities. [70] However, the parliament did not adopt these laws during the first year of the action plan. Moreover, in May 2017, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted decree #354, [71] which introduced changes to decree #559. [72] The changes led to the opening and publishing of urban planning documentation online. Regarding whether provisions of the law comply with openness practices, perceptions of stakeholders differ. Civil society experts note the cases of low transparency in some settlements, while authorities provide statistics demonstrating higher transparency in cities and lower transparency in villages. In October 2017, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, the State Agency of E-Governance, and Transparency International Ukraine (an external auditor of the system) announced the launch of an updated state land registry. For more information, please see the 2016–2018 IRM midterm report. [73]

End of term: Limited

By the end of the action plan term, Parliament had adopted neither of the draft laws regulating transparency of urban documentation. The government revoked draft law #4585, On Amendments to Some Laws of Ukraine on Improving Urban Development. [74] Parliament adopted draft law #6403, On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine On the Regulation of Urban Development Activities, in first reading. So it is being prepared for the second hearing. [75] However, the Ministry of Regional Development has developed a draft decree #220 On Adopting the Requirements for the Structure and Format of Publishing Information on Urban Planning Documentation in Internet. The decree was passed to the Ministry of Justice for review. [76] According to a report from a civil society expert who develops and advocates urban planning portals, few local authorities disclosed urban development plans in an open data format and even fewer disclosed detailed plans of territories. [77] For example, some municipalities published online a digital photo of poor quality and a report of poor completion. However, some municipalities (e.g., the cities of Dnipro, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, [78] Lviv, [79] Rivne, [80] and Chernivtsi) developed and published online geo-information portals with detailed and visual information. [81]

Civil society developed Open Budget, a municipal transparency and accountability e-services online platform. [82] As a module, it mapped construction and repair works of 15 communities. It also linked the building information with public registries (E-data, ProZorro, the Registry of Legal Entities, the Registry of Court Decisions), independent anti-corruption online monitoring resources (Anti-Corruption Monitor and Clarity Project), and independent online road monitoring resources (UARoads and Navizor). In addition, the platform visualized the projects on Google Maps. [83] This module operates for Drohobych, [84] Uzhgorod, [85] and Dnipropetrovsk oblast. [86] The state urban planning land registry would inform citizens and give the Service of Urban Planning Cadastre the authority to edit. However, the Ministry of Regional Development stated that it did not possess the required technical and software resources to launch it and that the state budget did not allocate the necessary funds to develop it. [87] Nevertheless, the ministry collaborated with the Better Regulation Delivery Office to develop an informative web resource through which anybody can obtain data about urban planning documentation. The ministry initially provided [88] a link to a malfunctioning website. [89] However, in September 2018, this online cadastre, with exclusive information functions, operated at a different web address. [90] The geo-information map appeared detailed. However, some land plots were missing digital information, and the official disclaimer warned of the possibility of geometrical mistakes on the map, such as overlapping land plots. The map reflects accurate information as of 2016. For each land plot, the map provides its cadastre number, and specifies the type of property (private or public), its function, area, and online links where one can request an official inquiry.

Did It Open Government?

Access to Information: Marginal

The government did not introduce legislative changes. However, the government did adopt the decree mandating the online publication of urban documentation. As a result, several municipalities published geo-information portals with exhaustive and visualized information. The publishing of the cadastre registry online constitutes a big step forward. However, this progress has led to marginal changes in improving access to information on urban planning.

Carried Forward?

When this report was written, the government had not adopted a new action plan. The government could clearly identify how local governments will be monitored and specify the functionality of the digital cadastre system. More urban and rural communities should introduce geo-information portals with urban planning information.

[69] “The Draft Law on Amendments to Some Laws of Ukraine on Improving Urban Development,” #4585, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine: The Official Web-portal, http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/zweb2/webproc4_1?pf3511=58971.

[70] “The Draft Law on Amendments to the Law of Ukraine ‘On the Regulation of Urban Development Activities,’” #6403, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine: The Official Web-portal, http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/zweb2/webproc4_1?pf3511=61676.

[71] “Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The Regulation on 24 May 2017 #354, The Government Portal,” Unified Web-Portal of Executive Authorities of Ukraine, https://www.kmu.gov.ua/ua/npas/250014978.

[72] “Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The Regulation on 25 May 2017 #559, The Government Portal,” Unified Web-Portal of Executive Authorities of Ukraine, https://www.kmu.gov.ua/ua/npas/244303939.

[73] “Ukraine Mid-Term Report 2016–2018,” Open Government Partnership, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/ukraine-mid-term-report-2016-2018-year-1/.

[74] “The Draft Law on Amendments to Some Laws of Ukraine on Improving Urban Development,” #4585.

[75] “The Draft Law on Amendments to the Law of Ukraine ‘On the Regulation of Urban Development Activities,’” #6403.

[76] Serhiy Bilous (Ministry of Regional Development), email exchange with IRM researcher, 18 September 2018.

[77] Volodymyr Tarnay (Eidos), email exchange with IRM researcher, 24 October 2018.

[78] “Maino,” GIS, https://gis.kievcity.gov.ua/map/park#map=14//50.44381368314857//30.53812980651856&&layer=9635591070826271-v:1|op:1.

[79] Lviv Map, Geoportal of Open Data of Lviv City Council, https://map.city-adm.lviv.ua/map/main#map=12//49.83720745438341//24.034996032714847&&layer=9635585433681688-1,100//12727358008557405-0,100//12721097171418162-1,100.

[80] Master Plan Rivne, Geoportal of Open Data of the Department of Urban Development and Architecture of the Executive Committee of the Rivne City Council, http://geo.rv.ua/ua/map/urban-plan#map=12//50.6191843//26.2302382&&layer=1664656129424098568-1,100//1758623072589448913-1,100.

[81] Volodymyr Tarnay (Eidos), interview with IRM researcher, 14 August 2018.

[82] “Open Budget,” http://www.openbudget.in.ua/.

[83] Volodymyr Tarnay (Eidos), interview with IRM researcher, 14 August 2018.

[84] “City Budget Map,” Drohobych City Council, http://drohobych-rada.gov.ua/informatsiya-vykonavchyh-organiv/byudzhetna-karta-mista/.

[85] “Budget on the Map,” Uzhgorod City Council, http://rada-uzhgorod.gov.ua/byudzhet-na-mapi/.

[86] “Open Budget,” Dnipropetrivsk Oblast Administration, http://openbudget.dp.gov.ua/.

[87] Serhiy Bilous (Ministry of Regional Development), email exchange with IRM researcher, 18 September 2018.

[88] Ibid.

[89] “Apache2 Ubuntu” Default Page, accessed 18 September 2018, http://www.pmap.minregion.gov.ua/.

[90] “The Public Cadastre Map of Ukraine,” accessed 17 September 2018, http://map.land.gov.ua/.