SANTO DOMINGO – During vacations, he would accompany his father to supervise the construction projects he was working on as an electrical contractor. Being around those projects, observing the blueprints, and understanding what they meant in his childhood world sparked Mario Bonilla Rodríguez's interest and love for the construction industry.
The new president of the Association of Housing Developers and Builders of Cibao (Aprocovici) says that he grew up in a humble family, where there was never a lack of love, food on the table and a solid education that has led him to lead his own firm Bonilla & Associates, founded 16 years ago, dedicated to the construction, execution and supervision of civil and electrical works.
Although he began his Civil Engineering studies at the Pontifical Catholic University Madre y Maestra (PUCMM) influenced by his family environment, over the years he discovered that it was definitely his calling and where he wanted to be and build his future. His father, Mario F. Bonilla, is an electromechanical engineer and was part of the generation of professionals who worked during the tourism boom of the 1990s in Puerto Plata, Sosua, and Cabarete, building hotels and developing residential complexes.
Bonilla Rodríguez entered the formal workforce before graduating, working as a construction inspector for the supervision company Transvialsa during the construction of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD), Santiago campus. Born in Altos de Virella (INVI), Santiago de los Caballeros, he has based his path to success on four pillars: discipline, passion, patience, and perseverance.
Why a union member?
The businessman who leads the Cibao construction industry, a married father of one, believes in institutions and understands that the easiest way to progress is to work together to make the sector he represents stronger every day. “And by achieving this, we will have a stronger country and therefore greater well-being for our companies, our families, and our people,” he explains.
He believes that the association can strengthen the sector, because by uniting wills in the same direction, objectives are achieved more easily and solidly, creating business opportunities and contributing more decisively to the progress of the country.
Changing the role that the association plays in the development of Santiago and the rest of the Cibao region, going from being a sectoral guild to an institution that participates in building the future and leaving a stronger institution in its executive structure, is part of the legacy he wants to leave behind.
Challenges in construction
Bonilla Rodríguez sees the construction sector as facing a complicated landscape with many challenges, a time when prudence, common sense, and reinvention must prevail in order to remain relevant.
One challenge that stands out is housing affordability, where the sector will have to look for alternatives to offer clients decent housing at an affordable price, taking into account construction costs and productivity, where it will no longer be sustainable to respond to each increase in costs simply by increasing the price per square meter.
Add financing and interest rates. “With urban land, it’s no longer enough to ask ourselves how much it costs to build; we also have to ask ourselves where the city should grow,” he said, noting that the infrastructure that accompanies real estate development is equally important, such as water, sanitation, transportation, energy, drainage, and waste management; as well as permitting and legal security, resilience, climate change, artificial intelligence, sustainability, and human capital.
