Puntarenas Projects: One in Five, Illegal

By Leland Baxter-Neal

Nowhere in Costa Rica are more construction projects springing up than in the central Pacific. But with the gray concrete towers reaching higher and higher, more than one in five is being built on shaky legal ground.

In Puntarenas, the province that leads the country in new construction growth, 21 per cent of projects recently inspected lacked the proper permits, according to the Colegio Federado de Ingenieros y de Arquitectos (CFIA), the national association of architects and engineers that regulates construction and builders.

But in Garabito – the canton in Puntarenas with the least amount of illegal construction – Mayor Marvin Elizondo said he is taking the issue head on, making the application process more strict and shutting down between 60 to 70 projects a month.

“People have the bad habit of starting projects before they get their permits,” Mr Elizondo said.

As part of a crackdown on illegal construction, the architect and engineer’s association sent inspectors to 227 sites in Puntarenas between March 5 and March 22. Of those projects, 48 lacked construction permits from their local municipalities.

In addition, 50 per cent of the construction companies working on these projects-- either were not registered with the association, as is required by law, or had let their registration expire.

According to Olman Vargas, executive director of the CFIA, this means that if there are problems, there is no assurance that these construction companies can be found after a project is completed.

Many unregistered companies also don’t insure their workers, he said, and in the case of an accident, if the company doesn’t have an insurance policy, the responsibility falls to the property owner.

This study comes on the heels of an identical report on the province of Guanacaste, released in early March, where 45 of 217 projects (21 per cent) were without their proper permits.

“I was surprised, because we really expected a lower number in Puntarenas,” said Mr Vargas. “We thought that because (the construction) is more concentrated, and more out in the open than in Guanacaste, it would be more difficult to build without any type of permit. The surprise was, it’s not.”

Among the cantons that make up Puntarenas, Parrita led the pack in illegal projects. There, inspectors found 23 of the 41 projects inspected (56 percent) didn’t have their permits.

Mr Vargas believed that this shows his theory did hold true on a smaller scale.

“In Parrita, where the construction is more hidden, more than half the projects didn’t have their permits,” he said. “In Garabito, you saw that it had the least amount (of illegal construction), despite having the most development. Maybe that is because it is more concentrated and in sight.”

Inspectors found that in Garabito – the populous canton that houses the central Pacific’s boomtown Jacó – only six of the 83 projects visited (seven per cent) lacked their permits.

© Beach Times Files

GROWING BY LEAPS: Construction in the province of Puntarenas grew 136 per cent in the first four months of the year when compared to 2006. Towns such as Jaco, where the project pictured above (for illustration purposes only) is advancing, are leading the boom. By May 1, officials had approved plans for 564,579 square meters of construction in Puntarenas, more than in any other province in Costa Rica.

The mayor of Parrita, Gerardo Roger Acuña, did not return repeated phone calls requesting a comment by late this week.

Mr Elizondo, the mayor of Garabito, however said this week that his administration is taking illegal construction seriously.

Between March and April, the Garabito municipality shut down an average of 60-70 projects a month because they lacked the proper permits, or were building illegally in some way, he said.

“We had to stop some very large projects because they didn’t meet the requirements,” Mr Elizondo said. Many of those projects, including major hotels and condominium developments, having gotten their business in order, got back underway.

According to the Garabito mayor, the municipality has also made the process for getting permits much stricter, subjecting plans for buildings taller than four stories to multiple reviews and the approval of the municipal council.

“Some people have complained that it;s slower, but we want to make sure the projects are correct,” Mr Elizondo said.

Mr Vargas, of the CFIA, said a common complaint from developers visited during the inspection was that the wait to get their environmental permits from the Ministry of the Environment and Energy’s Technical Secretariat (SETENA) takes too long.

“They said they preferred to take the risk, and begin construction,” Mr Vargas said.

SETENA has long been criticized from both the private sector and the government, and was called a “collapsed institution” early last year by Rodrigo Arias, Minister of the Presidency and President Oscar Arias’ brother.

“SETENA definitely needs to reorient itself and make its administrative procedures more agile,” Mr Vargas said. “People with good intentions to get their permits first begin to encounter a bunch of problems, and months go by and SETENA doesn’t rule on their project, and this causes people to feel like beginning without permits.”

Mr Vargas also called for more control by the municipalities.

“It’s not money that is lacking, it is control,” Mr Vargas said, noting that booming construction has filled the coffers of many municipalities where enforcement is lacking, but local officials don’t have the training to properly handle the income. “They have the financial resources, but they are unable to properly use them.”

It is also in the municipalities’ best interest to assure all the projects have their permits, Mr Vargas said, because if not, it is money the local government does not receive. He did not have figures available for the Central Pacific, but in Guanacaste, the municipality of Carrillo missed out on $390,000 in permit fees.

Mr Vargas said officials with the CFIA are meeting with municipal leaders and workers, offering workshops and training to improve both administration and inspection.