SANTO DOMINGO.- "On the one hand, the project will be boosting the construction sector, which has the greatest impact on our country's economic growth, while also stimulating the exchange of international documents, as well as the manufacturing sector, which has the second greatest impact," declared President Luis Abinader, during yesterday's event for the "Single Window for Construction."
The platform will function as a digital tool through which permits and licenses will be issued for construction operations in the national territory.
Those involved in the construction industry and other interested parties can access the website VUC.gob.do, where they will need to create a profile with their personal information, apply for a building permit from the corresponding institution, and make the payment through the platform. The project currently includes 18 institutions, and others will be added in the future.
The government revealed the results achieved through the Zero Bureaucracy program, whose purpose is to streamline government procedures and services. In this regard, President Abinader described the progress made in implementing the program as "historic achievements" that have improved the efficiency of procedures carried out in various government institutions.
“We have a new permitting model based on the risk assessment and quality food system, which has already begun with the 24-hour processing by the General Directorate of Customs and continues to expand with the inclusion of Digemaps (General Directorate of Medicines, Food and Health Products). We also have the automatic renewal of sanitary registrations and the issuance of new sanitary permits within 24 hours. These efforts constitute historic achievements,” Abinader stated.
Building permits
According to the authorities, among the benefits obtained is the interoperability of the construction permits coordinated by the Ministry of Housing and Buildings (Mived), through which more than 20 procedures required for the development of works can be requested online.
This project will reduce the time it took in 2020 to obtain a building permit for complex projects from 206 days to 120 days, while those of lesser complexity will take 60 days.
The process of interoperability of construction permits becomes the first project of its kind in the country and throughout Latin America, constituting a milestone in the digital transformation of the State.
Meanwhile, Darío Castillo Lugo, head of the Ministry of Public Administration (MAP), indicated that within the institutional strengthening and improvement of the services of Digemaps, he initiated the design of a regulatory innovation that improves the efficiency of the processes, objectively evaluating performance indicators of applicants, which allows the institution to determine the levels of risk through a methodology that works like a traffic light.
Lugo explained that this measure is contained in Decree 44-23, which creates the Regulation for the Implementation of the Manufacturer's Risk Assessment System.
For his part, the president recalled that a few days ago the Single Educational File was launched, where 30,700 certifications were issued in 24 hours, while to date more than 87,000 certificates have been issued.
"What used to happen on Máximo Gómez Avenue, where every morning you could see an endless line, those lines no longer exist, that's Zero Bureaucracy," the head of state said.
The governor said that thanks to the digitization and automation of procedures and services, we will be able to measure the productivity of institutions but also reduce a high cost and time for citizens.
Subsequently, the Minister of the Presidency, Joel Santos, stated that the aforementioned project is one of the cross-cutting themes of the current administration, which seeks to achieve the digital transformation of Dominican society and make information and communication technology a strength.
“The goal of achieving efficiency and transparency in public administration through the use of digital technologies is surprising, as it has been achieved through interoperability, where a significant number of institutions, traditionally assumed to have low communication, have now implemented it,” the minister added.
