The delay in obtaining major construction permits in Alicante has been a constant in recent times, which developers and professionals in the construction sector denounce wherever they find interlocutors. This happened at a recent technical conference organized by the Colleges of Architects and Technical Architects along with representatives from the Urban Planning Department. The aim was to bring together those who draft the technical documents with those who supervise and approve them, in order to streamline procedures and administrative processes.
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In response to questions from the members about the “average” time for processing a major construction permit, Antonio Faura, the architect from the technical department of Works of the Urban Planning Department, admitted that, “unfortunately, every day we are getting worse, we have an average of at least eight months to provide our report, from the moment the report is requested from us. The person in charge attributed this growing delay to the fact that “there are a total of seven technicians, of whom now we find less than half.”
“Unfortunately, every day we are getting worse, we have an average of at least eight months to provide our report,” they state
He stated that “we face thousands of annual files, which are initiated but, with corrections and objections, some multiply by two, three, or four times, and that is what saturates us.” In the case of “priority” projects, deadlines are halved because these projects are set aside and reported on as soon as possible, but “with the few of us we cannot divide the tasks; we are all seeing everything.” Faura focuses more on major works of public administrations, activity licenses, and priority projects, but is forced to absorb the tasks of some colleagues who are on leave.
The technicians trust that events like the one held with the architects, proper dissemination, and simplification of processes will help speed up procedures, but above all they hope “that the staff is increased as it should be in a provincial capital like Alicante, which is far below others; we lack many people,” said the technician in the presence of the Urban Planning councilor, Antonio Peral, who attentively followed the meeting.
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The Territorial College of Architects of Alicante receives about 15,000 inquiries each year about construction projects. During the dialogue with municipal technicians, they pointed out the paradox and “injustice” that “with the housing problem in this country, a file takes so long to be resolved, especially when the administration gives you ten days to submit a document and the City Council can take two years to give you a permit.”
Manuel Baltar, head of the legal service of the department, insisted that the City Council “is friendly, we are not a hostile administration,” which is why they tend to be lax: “we are slow, we are not going to demand others to be express,” he said. He also trusted the “clear” will of the Government team to improve things, implement IT systems, a new ordinance that represents a great advance, and to increase the Urban Planning staff. He warned, however, that “hiring professionals from outside must go through a selection process,” because applicants “have to pass a competitive exam, a job pool, and that delays, but that is what the government team is working on.”
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