Planning Council postpones decision on environmental review overhaul

In the wake of a major protest by environmental and health organizations, the National Planning Council defers a decision on whether to replace the Environmental Protection Ministry’s detailed reports on the environmental impact of major infrastructure projects with a uniform test to be filled in on the instruction of the council’s head.

The proposal to dilute the ministry’s role in the planning of projects in fields such as transportation, water, and mining was included in the Economic Arrangements Bill that accompanied the 2026 state budget. Its backers say it will cut red tape, shorten planning times and give developers more certainty.

Its opponents, among them 40 organizations that appealed to the planning council and the Interior Ministry, maintain that planners need to strike a balance between the requirements of developers and the needs of the environment and public health and quality of life.

The council decides to spend more time trying to reach a compromise on the guidelines for assessing a project’s environmental impact, and to bring these at a later stage to a committee that discusses planning principles.