The Salvadoran government announced that it will accelerate the delivery of permits for several construction projects pending from previous administrations, valued at more than $1.4 billion.
Directors of the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARN), who are part of the new administration of President Nayib Bukele, specified that the aim is to deliver as soon as possible the files that were retained by old authorities and that the mission is to streamline the procedures but not to make them flexible.
One of the first actions of El Salvador's new president, Nayib Bukele, was to announce the elimination of four secretariats and the creation of two new ones: Innovation and Trade and Investment.
In El Salvador, the changes that are coming with the arrival of Nayib Bukele to power are beginning to be announced, since at the first meeting of the Council of Ministers it was reported that the Technical Secretariat of the Presidency, the Social Inclusion Secretariat, the Governance Secretariat, the Transparency and Anti-Corruption Secretariat, and the Vulnerability Secretariat, all created during the FMLN government, will disappear.
Importers in El Salvador report losses in shipments coming from Guatemala and Honduras, because of the tedious procedures that have become in Salvadoran customs.
Because of flaws in the estimates of costs of the work, in Costa Rica the Comptroller's Office declared unviable the tender to build a sports center, supposedly valued at $40 million.
In July 2016, the Solis administration announced explicitly that they were preparing to tender, at the beginning of 2017, the construction of a 25,000 square meter aquatic center and a 36,000 square meter sports center in San José, for a total cost of $40 million.
The time invested to meet requirements and obtain a response in a process in Salvadoran government institutions costs to the society more than $400 million a year.
According to data from the Regulatory Improvement Body (OMR), in El Salvador 90% of the costs incurred by users are the result of the time spent to meet the requirements for the procedure, and the remaining 10% corresponds to the waiting time for the response.
A new information platform aims to identify the main disadvantages faced by companies that transport goods through the region in customs and paperwork management.
The Central American Economic Integration Secretariat (Sieca) presented the Trade Incidences Platform, which will compile information on the disadvantages that companies have in the areas of customs, transport, sanitary procedures, phytosanitary, import or export.
According to entrepreneurs dedicated to the distribution of electricity in El Salvador, the rigid legal regulations prevent progress being made on issues such as the development of distribution networks and improvements to the quality of service.
Representatives from the Association of Distributors of Salvadoran Electric Power (Asdees), believe that due to the gap between technological advances and the backlog of the regulatory framework for the sector, the country is losing competitiveness.
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.
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.
A savings fund, housing loans, expenses for recreation and bonuses, scholarships for children, and restaurant services for employees of the state and the monopolist hydrocarbons distributor of Costa Rica, are financed through the prices paid by consumers, even by the poorest.
A key factor in economies´competitiveness is the unrestricted movement of the available human and material resources, and this is where the customs integration of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador falls very short.
EDITORIAL
Jorge Cobas González Director of CentralAmericaData.COM
Salvadoran industrialists claim that with the presidential veto of the administrative simplification law, the country has lost a valuable opportunity to improve the already deteriorated business climate.
EDITORIAL
With the veto of the Administrative Simplification Act, the Salvadoran government is sending a clear message to the business community and to society in general: There is no interest in paving the way for the private sector to generate more jobs and, consequently, more wealth and socioeconomic development.
In El Salvador, the private sector is putting pressure on President Sánchez Cerén to sanction the recently approved administrative simplification law, which promises to facilitate procedures for doing business.
Eliminating unnecessary procedures that represent operational costs for users, reducing administrative procedures and removing requirements not required by law are some of the benefits that companies could obtain if the new law is approved.
The Government of Guatemala plans to delegate to the United Nations Office for Project Services the supervision and execution of road works valued at more than $500 million.
The fate of road projects essential for the development of Guatemala could be as bad as some of those in Costa Rica, which have also been delegated to the United Nations Office of Projects (UNOPS).See "Challenges to the work of UNOPS".
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