He believes it is time for companies to raise the level of their plans and the professionals they hire.
SANTO DOMINGO – Carlos Bonilla, Minister of Housing of the Dominican Republic, yesterday asked the country's builders to improve the quality of their design plans, a measure that, according to the official, would help reduce the time it takes to approve building permits.
“I’m going to side with the developer because I am a developer myself. We need to improve the professionals we use to create the plans because, gentlemen, we have to raise the level of the plans we deliver, raise the level of the professionals we hire,” declared the head of the Ministry of Housing, Habitat and Buildings (MIVHED), while participating as a speaker at the “1st Construction Forum Copymecon 2024: Present and Future of Public and Private Investment.”.
The official said he was not referring to any particular company, but "in a general sense because I, who am on the other side now reviewing and approving projects, see that many construction companies do a very good job and invest a significant amount of money in these studies, and that greatly speeds up the projects because they are good plans," he noted.
He argued that in the opposite case, the difference is like night and day, and "I want us to analyze that as a sector and support and increase the quality of those plans and those professionals that we sometimes hire and that we have to do so so that those times continue to improve," Bonilla stressed.
Carlos Bonilla during his conference. (El Inmobiliario).
He commented that he has experienced everything in the industry and that he identifies with the people who obtain permits for construction "because I went through that and all the unpleasantness that it has left them with, it has left me with it too and I went through everything," he asserted.
Engineer Bonilla, the first minister to hold the position at MIHVED, assured that he is "gradually" working through the Vice Ministry of Standards, Regulations and Procedures to verify, motivate and teach those who review projects how they generate jobs and how these jobs help thousands of people to support themselves, and also how much this represents in terms of economic investment for the country.
“So when you present this to the reviewers and collaborators of MIVHED in this way, they identify with their work,” Bonilla insisted.
He explained that the structure in the entity he represents has changed a lot, although he is aware that "we have to continue improving and supporting in that sense and innovating.".
In that sense, he understands that it is necessary to continue strengthening the one-stop shop for construction to expedite the granting of permits, the development of new construction technicians and the approval of the rental law, after emphasizing that in the Dominican Republic there is "a very large culture of investment in real estate".
