In Guatemala, the Chambers of Industry, Construction, Commerce and Agriculture agree that the reforms to the State Contracting Law constitute a step backwards in terms of transparency and open the door to greater opacity in public spending.
In April 2021, the deputies approved the amendments to Decree 57-92, which among other things allow for an increase in the amounts of direct and low value purchases.
The builders and housing association proposes, as one of the measures to encourage the construction of social housing and help minimize the growing housing deficit, to modify the regulations to lower the costs for the construction of apartment buildings.
The problem of the lack of social or low-cost housing is a long-standing one in Guatemala. The lack of access to financing, due to the high degree of informality in which most of the low-income population in the country finds itself, added to the lack of supply of this type of housing, means that this problem, far from being corrected, is growing more and more.
Businessmen in the sector assert that the country reports one of the lowest levels of cement consumption in the Latin American region.
The current level of cement production in Guatemala reflects the low levels of public investment in recent years in the country. Lack of investment by the State in roads and other public infrastructure works is compounded by instability generated by foreign investment in the legal conflicts that have arisen in recent years, such as closure of mining projects and political and economic problems related to corruption."..."Conflict is an additional factor that slows development and investment, and therefore the consumption of cement," said Oscar Sequeira, coordinator of the Statistics Commission of the Guatemalan Chamber of Construction. "
Although the paperwork that needs to be submitted to the Ministries of Health and Environment is now more streamlined, entrepreneurs are proposing the implementation of a single window in order to further speed up procedures.
Companies in the construction sector say that there is some improvement in the speed with which the procedures are managed in the Ministries of Health and Environment, but there is still a need to improve the time it takes to obtain a license.To achieve this, constructors have proposed the creation of a single window where all procedures can be centralized.
The union expects growth of only 2.5%, a figure that could be improved if the problems with delays in licensing and other bureaucratic obstacles are resolved.
The vice president of the Guatemalan Chamber of Construction (CGC), Javier Ruiz, said that"... despite the Bank of Guatemala estimating economic growth for 2017 of 3% of GDP, the construction sector will expand by only 2.5%, which is "insufficient" to promote development. "
Now, in addition, an inquiry must be made at the National Committee of Protected Areas to determine if a construction project is within a protected sector.
The headache of getting a construction license in Guatemala will get worse now that a new process has been added to the list. In addition to the 13 agencies that must "rule " whether or not a permission can be granted, Government Agreement 20-2016 by the Ministry of Environment, establishes in Article 13 a new requirement for the construction sector: a consultation with the National Committee on Protected areas (CONAP), said Jorge Benavides, research associate of the Foundation for the Development of Guatemala to Republica.gt.
The construction union of Guatemala states that construction costs have increased by about 6% since the entry into force in January of a tax on the distribution of cement.
Since the start of the charging of a $0.66 tax per bag of cement distributed, representatives from cement companies have reported a drop in sales.
Pelayo Llarena, president of the Chamber of Construction, told Elperiodico.com.gt that "...
The Guatemalan government's budgetary constraints have resulted in serious delays in payments to construction companies for public infrastructure.
Between January and March progress in the execution of public works was almost nil because of the budget problems facing institutions, preventing them from directing the resources private companies awarded with various infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges.
Changes to income tax and stamp duty for sales of public areas in condominiums will increase the activity.
Developers and homebuilders in Guatemala hope that the reforms to the Tax Update and ISR will encourage the growth of the sector with new projects.
"... Although there are no growth projections, its certain there will be a boom in this type of construction," said the president of the Chamber of Construction, José Luis Agüero.