The proposal submitted to the Senate prioritizes vacant urban land, requires a territorial impact assessment for large-scale private projects, and creates a fund with a mandatory minimum allocation, but it does not set the time horizon that Law 368-22 requires for the plan
SANTO DOMINGO. – The Minister of the Presidency, José Ignacio Paliza, yesterday, Thursday, October 22, delivered to the President of the Senate, Ricardo de los Santos, the draft Law of the National Territorial Planning Plan (PNOT), a text of 72 articles and 13 chapters that defines where public investment should be concentrated, which lands will be under protection and what new requirements public and private projects with effects on the territory will have.
Paliza was accompanied by the Deputy Minister of Territorial Planning, Domingo Matías, who attributed the content to five years of consultations and reported that more than 60 municipal plans are in development.
The submission to Congress is in accordance with Article 21 of Law 368-22 on Territorial Planning, Land Use and Human Settlements, which entrusts the Council of Ministers to know and approve the proposed plan and the President of the Republic to submit it to the Legislature.
According to the project's preamble, the Council of Ministers approved it on September 17, 2026.
Nodes, poles and corridors
Article 5 approves the PNOT and adopts a four-part territorial model: territorial nodes, defined as cities or settlements that concentrate population and services; growth poles; strategic corridors; and the Unique Planning Regions created by Law 345-22.
Of those four pieces, the text only names the runners, six in total according to article 19:
- Central, between Santiago and Santo Domingo;
- Atlantic Coast, between Puerto Plata and Samaná;
- Eastern Zone, which links San Pedro de Macorís, La Romana, El Seibo and Higüey;
- Ozama Region and its surroundings, which includes Ozama, Valdesia and Higuamo;
- Cross-border corridors,
- Atlantic-Caribbean Corridor.
Its limits and projects will be defined in an Implementation Plan that the Executive Branch must approve by decree within twelve months of the entry into force of the law, in accordance with article 51.
This model will directly impact spending, because Article 36 prohibits approving public investment projects that do not demonstrate their alignment with the territorial structure of the plan, with exceptions motivated by strategic, emergency or national interest reasons that will require a prior technical report from the governing body.
Land, capital gains and new procedures
The most far-reaching provisions for the real estate market are in the chapter on land use regulations.
Article 31 mandates that municipal plans prioritize "the rational occupation of vacant urban land before enabling new developable land" and allows them to order, through a reasoned act, the relocation of incompatible or risky activities.
Article 32 authorizes municipal and supramunicipal instruments to incorporate land reserves, mandatory transfers, contributions for improvements, parcel readjustment, transfer of development rights and "recovery of valorizations generated by public action", a mechanism that in urban planning is known as the capture of surplus values.
None of these instruments appear in the 117 articles of Law 368-22. The same article makes its application subject to a sufficient regulatory basis, proportionality and respect for property rights.
Article 37 establishes the territorial impact assessment, mandatory for public, private or mixed projects that, due to their scale, location or intensity of use, may generate significant effects on the territory.
The project does not establish thresholds; the technical criteria will be determined by the governing body. This assessment does not replace licenses or environmental studies, although based on it the authority may require mitigation measures, compensation, or relocation.
Law 368-22 does not include this figure and is limited to environmental impact studies and strategic environmental assessment.
In the area of property registration, Article 45 tasks the governing body, in coordination with the Supreme Court of Justice and the Real Estate Jurisdiction, with producing an "information note" within 24 months that reflects the plan's provisions regarding registered properties. The text clarifies that this note will not constitute a lien, encumbrance, or objection.
Article 17 lists the priority coastal and water zones where restrictions or prohibitions on use may be imposed: the wetlands and mangroves of protected areas with tourist use and expressly mentions Bahía de las Águilas and Jaragua National Park, Cotubanamá National Park, Catalina Island Natural Monument and the bays of Samaná and Montecristi.
For works already authorized, article 70 preserves validly granted permits, but empowers the authority to demand adjustments to projects not started, suspended or substantially modified.
A fund with a mandatory floor
Article 58 creates the National Fund for Territorial Planning and Resilience, which may be funded by the budget, international cooperation and private contributions.
The General State Budget must allocate each year an amount no less than the average of the resources executed in territorial planning, risk management and adaptation to climate change during the three previous fiscal years.
The same paragraph states that the allocation will be made “according to fiscal availability”, but the article does not designate an administrator or governing body of the fund.
The project argues that the fund is created “in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 368-22,” although none of the 117 articles of that law establishes a fund. Its financing chapter, in articles 106 and 107, refers to budget allocations assigned to the former Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development, municipal counterpart funds, fines collected by local governments, and international cooperation.
The bill also creates an Advisory Council for Territorial Planning, attached to and chaired by the Ministry of the Presidency, with participation from the central government, local governments, the private sector, academia, and civil society. Its composition and powers are defined in the regulations.
Calendar
The President of the Republic will have 180 days from the promulgation to issue the regulations (Article 68). Within twelve months of its entry into force, the Implementation Plan and a national map of territorial priorities for public investment must be ready (Articles 51 and 54).
Local governments will have 24 months to form their technical units and access the National Territorial Information System, and 48 months to certify their staff and adopt land management instruments and risk protocols (Article 57).
That information system was created by article 29 of Law 368-22 in December 2022. Article 57 of the project conditions municipal access on the system "being operational", without setting a date for this.
Law 368-22 had already established its own timeline: Article 114 grants 24 months, counted from the effective date of the implementing regulations, for the preparation of the various land-use plans. The bill makes no reference to this timeframe.
What the text leaves open
Several provisions of the project refer to content that the text itself does not include or that conflicts with each other:
- Article 6 declares the maps, geospatial layers, and matrices “expressly identified as annexes to this law” to be an integral part of the plan. The bill does not identify any annexes nor does it name a single territorial node or growth pole, even though Article 36 conditions the approval of public investment on alignment with them.
- Article 21 of Law 368-22 establishes that the National Land Use Plan (PNOT) must reflect the current and future situation of the territory for a period of 30 years and be reviewed every ten years. The project does not specify a target year or period of validity, and its preamble links it to the National Development Strategy 2030.
- Article 11 requires express legal authorization for any tax incentive, subsidy or exemption, while Article 16 entrusts the regulations to develop agricultural land policies "through economic and fiscal incentives".
- Article 19 lists “at least” six corridors, a formula that leaves the list open. However, a subsequent paragraph prevents the Implementation Plan from altering that identification and requires a regulatory procedure for adding binding corridors.
- The plan's leadership rests on a reference: Law 368-22 assigned its coordination to the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development, which was abolished by Law 45-25. Article 4 of Law 45-25, according to the project's preamble, transferred territorial planning powers to the Ministry of the Presidency. The project bases the Presidency's leadership on this transfer without expressly amending Law 368-22.
- Regarding terminology, Article 7 refers to the regions called "development regions" by the rest of the text as Single Planning Regions, a concept created by Law 345-22.
If approved, the law will come into effect upon its promulgation and publication, according to its article 72, and, in accordance with article 71, it will repeal the provisions of equal or lower hierarchy that are contrary to it.
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