Housing ministry proposes uniform construction code

This comes as good news if extremely belated. When I started building the Valle Escondido master planned community in 2001, there were no codes or even a place to go to find out the processes required by the state. You could ask ten people and get ten different answers on what to do, where to go and how long it will take. In my case it took nearly 5 years to finally get a master plan approved and the bumps along the way were severe enough at times to nearly sink my ship. Only tenacity and deep pockets kept me afloat. When I would talk with developers in the city they would tell me it is all in who you know which meant paying off various people to get things done in a more timely fashion. Always the contrarian, I chose the high and difficult road of refusing to pay anyone and the consequences were a painfully long time and attacks from government officials with a lot of time on their hands and private individuals who saw an easy target in this foolish gringo. The consequences of that route is still costing me dearly today.
Now the government is proposing a clear set of codes on what is expected and where to go to get things done. This does not mean that it will be faster, easier or without corruption, but at least you may have a clear set of plans to go by.

Uniform construction code proposed by Mivi

Reasonable observers might suppose that for all the construction going on in Panama there must be a uniform construction code that regulates structural design, materials, energy conservation, fire safety, electrical, plumbing, heating, cooling, ventilation, indoor air quality, accessibility, safety, acoustics, disaster mitigation, green building, and more.

But anyone with more than a passing familiarity with building in the country can tell you no such code exists.

That could change, however, if reforms proposed by the Ministerio de Vivienda (Mivi) are approved and adopted.

“At present, both professionals and investors find it difficult to develop projects because there is no guide for the processes and requirements,” said Gabriel Diez, heads the Mivi.

“The code will establish the necessary mechanisms and processes that the various people involved in construction need to know,” Diez said, from the conception of a project to its final disposition.

The subject of a uniform construction code has been under discussion among Panamanian authorities for more than 10 years, the Mivi official added. But nothing was done, even though construction codes are the norm in other countries.