In Guatemala, the Ministry of Economy temporarily created the Interinstitutional Commission to Contribute to the Economic Reactivation of the Construction Sector, which will be integrated by representatives of nine entities.
The purpose of the Commission is to promote coordination actions among the Ministries and Institutions related to the construction sector, in order to streamline the administrative management of each one of them.
After five months of having paralyzed the construction in the country because of the pandemic caused by the covid-19 outbreak, the authorities are planning to reactivate the activities of the sector next September 7th.
After the Ministry of Health approved the reactivation of these works, which had been halted since March of this year due to the covid-19 outbreak, 27 road infrastructure projects were restarted nationwide on August 17.
These are five projects located in Panama, four in West Panama, another four in Chiriqui, two in Bocas del Toro, eight in Cocle and one each in the provinces of Los Santos, Herrera, Veraguas and the Ngäbe Bugle region.
The Ministry of Health decided to extend for the fourth time and for 15 more days the temporary suspension of the construction activity, arguing that it seeks to prevent, control and mitigate the covid-19 disease.
On June 26, 2020, Executive Decree No. 840 was published in the Official Journal, by which the resumption of private construction projects was postponed until July 11.
Given the crisis in the construction industry, which is expected to last several months, the business association is asking the Costa Rican government to take urgent measures, with quantifiable results in the short term and in accordance with the gravity of the situation.
Before the start of the health crisis that led to the spread of covid-19, the construction industry in the country had already been showing a downward trend, as in 2019 the sector reported the worst performance of all economic activities, with a 11% year-on-year fall compared to December 2018. See full report.
Due to the outbreak of covid-19 the Panamanian Ministry of Health decided to extend for the third time and for 15 more days the temporary suspension of the construction activity, in the same terms expressed in Decree 506 of March 24.
In Panama, the Ministry of Health approved the Ministry of Public Works to reactivate work on 11 road construction projects.
The announcement was made formally after Health Minister Rosario Turner informed Rafael Sabonge's Public Works Minister that the construction projects could be reactivated.
As part of the process of reactivating productive activities after overcoming the most critical phases of quarantine, the Ministry of Health ordered the reopening of the hardware stores in their regular hours and with attention to the public.
Resolution 453 of the Ministry of Health was published in the Official Digital Journal on May 29, 2020, and authorizes the opening of hardware stores to the public.
Offering more amenities in residential complexes and maintaining the discounts offered in housing fairs for longer are some of the strategies applied by real estate developers in Costa Rica to increase sales of new homes.
According to the most recent figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC), between the first half of 2018 and the same period in 2019 the number of houses built in Costa Rica fell by 11% from 10,753 to 9,620.
President Cortizo announced the implementation of a plan that contemplates expanding the preferential interest rate for homes with prices of up to $180,000.
During his inauguration, Laurentino Cortizo announced that he will implement a plan to reactivate the construction industry, which includes the extension of the preferential interest in different ranges for housing up to $180,000, the presentation of a real estate leasing bill and exemption from transfer tax for the current inventory of housing, among other actions.
For the construction guild, in El Salvador it is essential to improve the financing conditions offered by banks to give greater impetus to the construction of low-cost housing.
In December of last year, the Salvadoran Chamber of the Construction Industry (Casalco) announced that they were preparing a law proposal, which contemplated the approval of preferential interest rates on loans for home purchases.
After the 13% drop registered between 2016 and 2017 in the square meters of buildings processed, between 2017 and last year, there was a slight increase of 2%.
According to figures from the Costa Rican Chamber of Construction (CCC) the construction of the industrial sector was the fastest growing in 2018, with a 30.4% increase, thanks to the growth in the processing of warehouses.
Because licensing is proceeding faster, private projects are rebounding in Guatemala and the sector in general expects to close 2018 with a 3% increase.
Representatives of the Guatemalan Chamber of Construction (CGC), explained that the positive behavior of the sector this year is because of the liberalization of licenses for the construction of projects that were pending to be authorized and new investments made.
Expanding to $150.000 the range of homes with preferential interest and guaranteeing real estate leasing are two of the changes that could boost a recovery of activity in Panama.
Construction in the country has reported a downward trend in recent years, however, representatives of the Panamanian Chamber of Construction (CAPAC) expect that with the arrival of a new government and the start of major works such as Metro lines 4 and 5, the sector may re-emerge.
The construction guild plans to close 2017 with $650 million in public and private construction projects, and achieve a growth of almost 6% compared to 2016.
Figures from the Central Bank of Honduras indicate that in the first two months of this year private construction registered a 2% increase compared to the same period last year.Revistaconstruir.com reports that"... the recovery comes as a result of the development of residential, commercial and industrial works in the municipalities of the Central District, San Pedro Sula and Choloma, among others in the northern zone."
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