Summary.
The bill creates the National Social Interest Serviced Lots Program to facilitate lower-income families’ legal access to land on which they would build their principal homes. It connects the program with orderly urban development, the provision of basic services, and the prevention of unlawful land occupations. The Ministry of Housing and Land Use Planning (Ministerio de Vivienda y Ordenamiento Territorial) would develop the program through urban planning, lot servicing, and the sale of land suitable for residential use, in accordance with land-use plans and existing regulations.
The Ministry of Housing and Land Use Planning would maintain a Social Interest Serviced Lots Bank. It would comprise state-owned land and other land that may lawfully enter the program, reserved exclusively for social interest subdivision projects. The lots would have a subdivision layout with internal streets and access to public roads. They would have drinking water, electricity, a sanitary wastewater system, a stormwater system, and other services essential to residential development. Servicing the land and providing access to the planned infrastructure would therefore form part of the program’s implementation.
Eligible applicants would be Panamanian individuals or families who do not own a home, meet the socioeconomic requirements set by the implementing regulations, and do not qualify for social interest housing programs. Lots could be awarded through sales at a social interest price. The Ministry of Housing and Land Use Planning could arrange installment payments and enter into agreements with public or private financial institutions to facilitate purchases, subject to budget availability and the implementing regulations. Each awarded lot would have to be used to build the beneficiary’s principal home. It could not be sold, assigned, or transferred during the period set by the regulations, unless the Ministry authorizes an exception for duly justified reasons.
To implement the program, the Ministry of Housing and Land Use Planning would coordinate with the competent public entities, municipalities, and public utility providers to secure the infrastructure needed for the projects. It would also periodically conduct a census or assessment of demand for serviced social interest housing lots by province, district, and corregimiento (district). That information would guide implementation, the supply of land, and efforts to prevent unlawful land occupations.
The bill directs the Executive Branch (Órgano Ejecutivo) to issue implementing regulations within one hundred eighty (180) days after promulgation and provides that the law would take effect on the following day. Its provisions concern the Ministry of Housing and Land Use Planning, the Executive Branch, municipalities, and public entities responsible for infrastructure and services. They could be of interest to or affect applicant families, public utility providers, financial institutions, and sectors involved in land development and home construction.
What it proposes.
- Creates a social interest serviced lots program.
- Sets requirements for lot servicing, awards, and use.
- Provides for planning the supply of land based on local demand.
Who it would affect.
- Panamanian individuals or families who meet the conditions for obtaining a lot.
- Ministry of Housing and Land Use Planning (Ministerio de Vivienda y Ordenamiento Territorial).
- Public entities, municipalities, and utility providers involved in infrastructure.
- Public or private financial institutions that enter into agreements to facilitate purchases.
Key points.
- Creates a program to facilitate legal access to land for the principal homes of lower-income families.Art. 1
- Assigns the Ministry of Housing and Land Use Planning responsibility for planning, servicing, and selling residential land and maintaining a lot bank for social interest projects.Arts. 2-3
- Requires internal streets, access to public roads, drinking water, electricity, and sanitary and stormwater systems for the lots.Art. 4
- Sets the conditions Panamanian individuals or families must meet to qualify as beneficiaries.Art. 5
- Allows sales at a social interest price, installment payments, and agreements with financial institutions, subject to budget availability and implementing regulations.Art. 6
- Reserves awarded lots for principal homes and restricts their sale, assignment, or transfer during the regulatory period, unless a justified exception is authorized.Art. 7
- Provides for infrastructure coordination and periodic assessment of demand by province, district, and corregimiento (district).Arts. 8-9
- Requires implementing regulations within one hundred eighty (180) days after promulgation and sets the effective date as the following day.Arts. 10-11