In order to resolve the problem of delays in approving environmental impact permits, in Costa Rica industrial sector employers support a proposal for the National Technical Secretariat to intervene.
Arguing that "it affects them negatively", the Chamber of Industries of Costa Rica (ICRC), supports the intervention of the National Technical Secretariat (Setena) requested last Wednesday by the Christian Social Unity Party (PUSC).
Due to the excess of procedures that developers have to carry out in order to realise a construction project in Costa Rica, it is estimated that some 5 thousand homes fail to be built every year.
The Costa Rican Chamber of Construction presented a study entitled "Economic contribution of the construction sector and the impact of the excess of procedures", and one of its main conclusions was that the bureaucratic processes in the country "... can generate average delays of 7.4 months in private construction projects and 13.5 months in social interest housing."
In Guatemala, it has been announced that by the end of the year a digital platform will be implemented that will have the capacity to inform, in minutes, whether an environmental impact study is feasible or not.
The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources plans to expedite the reception and approval of environmental licenses, and for this it is preparing a digital platform that will respond to users about the feasibility or not of their applications.
Business leaders in Costa Rica disapprove of the management of outgoing President Luis Guillermo Solís, who in four years was not able to propose convincing solutions to serious problems such as the fiscal deficit.
Starting in June, companies in the Dominican Republic will be able to request permission to import medicines, cosmetics and hygiene products through an electronic platform.
In Panama, it is being claimed that gold mining activity at the Cerro Quema mine will set back 18 months, due to a delay in approving the environmental study and the extension of a concession on the part of the government.
General managers of the company Minera Cerro Quema, in charge of the concession for the mine, stated that the Environmental Impact Study (EIA) was presented three years ago, and they have still not received approval from the authorities.
In Panama, a pilot plan by the Food Authority aims to simplify and expedite the process of importingfood, grouping into a single sheet the notifications pertaining to a procedure.
The proposal put forward by the Panamanian Food Safety Authority (Aupsa), for now in a pilot phase, would replace the program that has been used since 2007.
Through an agreement with the business sector, the government of Honduras has announced that it intends to simplify procedures for licenses and registration of companies.
As part of a plan to facilitate private investment, the Hernandez administration has announced that they will also be talking with mayors so that local governments facilitate the operation of companies nationwide. In addition they"... announced that from April they will start using customs' forward looking statement."
While one candidate is willing to review the limits on private electricity cogeneration, and raise them from 15% to 30%, the other rejects the possibility of extracting natural gas due to its environmental implications.
In a meeting with companies in the Chamber of Industries of Costa Rica (ICRC), the two candidates who will go head to head in a second round of voting on April 1, shared their proposals to deal with issues of great importance to the industrial sector, such as electricity rates and the opening up of the electricity market, as well as the management of procedures in State institutions.
As part of a pilot plan in Nicaragua eight companies have started using the Foreign Trade Single Window system, a platform that allows pre-customs procedures to be carried out.
The window that is expected to start operating in the middle of the year will allow for procedures to obtain permits and documents needed to export or import to be done online, including payments in banks and institutions via an online platform.
In Costa Rica, an action of unconstitutionality filed almost three years ago is preventing the construction of a customs post on the border with Nicaragua, which would allow cargo transportation to be spared a distance of 160 kilometers.
Although the government has the $12 million needed for the final construction of the border post, where a temporary container has operated since 2013, the unconstitutionality action filed by the environmentalist Alvaro Sagot, is preventing the project from progressing.
The first stage of reduction of procedures that the Salvadoran government plans to implement in the coming months will include eliminating duplication of procedures between entities.
In Panama, a tender is being launched for services to modernize and systematize procedures for granting environmental permits, with a focus on the evaluation and inspection stages.
Panama Government Purchase 2018-1-08-0-08-LV-024170:
With 19% endemic poverty, 10% open unemployment and 40% informal employment, and some of the highest electricity rates in the region, Costa Rica is opposed to $1 billion in clean energy investments.
EDITORIAL
By Jorge Cobas González
Meanwhile, the bureaucracy of state-owned companies continues to prescribe first-world remuneration, and continues to protect its privileges following ECLAC development concepts from the middle of the last century, which are utterly out of place today.Because Costa Rica does not have the investment capacity or know-how necessary for the development of latest generation renewable energy projects, even though it has all of the necessary primary conditions: sun, wind, thermal energy.
Since October 2017, constructions whose coverage exceeds 20% of the land must submit a hydrogeological study.
The entry into force of the Generic Matrix for the Protection of Aquifers has generated doubts about what the projects that must comply with the presentation of the hydrogeological study really are.On the one hand, the guide indicates that constructions which have a coverage of land equal to or less than 20% of the area will not need the study, and on the other hand, representatives of the National Service of Underground Waters of Irrigation and Drainage (Senara), suggest a different interpretation.
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