SANTO DOMINGO.- Complaints from business owners and construction leaders regarding delays in issuing the necessary permits for real estate development remained a persistent issue throughout 2024, affecting various government agencies responsible for ensuring that processes are followed to maintain a vital pillar of the Dominican economy,such as construction.
From the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, the Mayor's Office of the National District, through the Ministry of Tourism to the Ministry of Housing, Habitat and Buildings (Mivhed), the complaints and dissatisfactions of leadersandrepresentatives of the sector were notable throughout this year.
In June, industry groups called on the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Mimarena) to curb obstacles and expedite permit processing, which they said had gone from taking 15 days to taking up to 6 months, affecting the growth of the construction sector this year and limiting investments.
Annerys Meléndez, president of the Dominican Association of Housing Builders and Promoters (Acoprovi), speaking on behalf of a group of entities in that sector, said that the prolonged delays to which the field of Construction was subjected could generate significant losses for one of the pillars of the national economy.
In September, business owners in the eastern part of the city stated that they were facing a growing challenge, referring to the constant delays in issuing permits for real estate projects. Daniel Cordero, director of the development company Morada, affirmed that this situation hinders the area's progress and could damage its reputation due to the persistent delays in project completion.
Also in June, the former president of the Dominican College of Engineers, Architects and Surveyors (CODIA), Cristian Rojas, urged the Ministry of Environment and President Luis Abinader to replace, if necessary, the officials who cannot keep up with the permits requested by builders.
“The economy shouldn’t be paralyzed, especially not the economy of hundreds of investors who work with financing, because this delay only reduces their profits, since the interest practically swallows up the project’s benefits,” he said, answering questions for El Inmobiliario.
The Association of Builders of Santo Domingo East (ACOSDE) was another of the guilds that spoke out in 2024 about the delay in construction permits, highlighting that as a result of the deficient management at the state level they had delays in the schedule of the works, increased expenses, increases in financing and interest, and changes in the delivery commitment dates.
“The procedures can drag on for more than two years, without concrete solutions or objective approaches. This process should be in accordance with the law; the legal responsibility for issuing the no-objection to land use, as well as approving the density and height of projects, falls to the municipalities,” the entity stated.
In June, Acosde met with the then newly appointed mayor for that district, Dio Astacio, where its representatives raised the need to simplify the bureaucratic processes for obtaining building permits, also requesting to ensure compliance with safety and quality standards.
Teodoro Tejada, former president of Codia, stated in September that the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources has become a hindrance to the construction sector, opining that Miguel Ceara Hatton's management of that organization represented a setback for the entity and that everything that had been achieved in the last 20 years was reversed.
“That man was not fit for that position; he thinks he’s the only serious person in this country. The builders here are honest,” Tejada said, referring to economist Miguel Ceara Hatton, former minister of the aforementioned state agency.
The Mivhed speaks
Vivian Reyes, Vice Minister of Standards, Procedures and Regulations of the Ministry of Housing, Habitat and Buildings (Mivhed), reported in March that this department continues to reinforce customer service staff, in order to attend to requests for licenses and construction procedures in a timely manner and offer responses in accordance with the time established by decree.
In a conversation with El Inmobiliario the official explained that on more than two occasions, staff has been reinforced in locations where the demand for construction permits has increased, such as Santiago de los Caballeros and Punta Cana.
He explained that through a new platform launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MIVHED), the workload is being distributed among staff in the various regions, and that previously only the National District absorbed the applications, which, regardless of their location, had to be processed in Santo Domingo.
“That means we had structures that we inherited from Public Works, one in San Francisco de Macorís, one in La Vega, one in Santiago, one in Punta Cana and one in the District, but not all of them have the same workload, which meant that some were perhaps overloaded and others were very overburdened,” he noted.
For his part, Paíno Henríquez, the current head of the Environment Ministry, said last November that developers no longer have the excuse of slow processes, assuring that 3,000 environmental permits, which he attributes to the streamlining of processes achieved in the first 100 days of his administration.
