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BiggerAbout 60% ownership in Dominican Republic is not regulated
DGCN officials.
The system seeks to strengthen the land registration and titling process while providing a more reliable real estate inventory.
Santo Domingo.- About 60% of the country’s properties are not formally regularized or titled because the informality of property is a historical evil that dates back more than 60 years, said Héctor Pérez Mirambeaux, general director of the National Cadastre (DGCN).
To face this problem, the DGCN, the Ministry of Finance, and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) launched the Project for the Development and Implementation of the Geographic Information System to strengthen cadastral information and improve access to services for the population.
Perez Mirambeaux affirmed that they hope that with this program and other initiatives, this stage of deficiency in the ownership of private properties will be overcome.
The system seeks to strengthen the process of land registration and titling while having a more reliable real estate inventory, allowing the application of valuation techniques that will positively impact revenue management and strengthen the cash availability of the treasury.
The Vice-Minister of the Treasury, Derby de los Santos, said that by having a better capacity to know the cadastral information of the country, the State could simultaneously increase its revenue collection capacity.
He emphasized that the investment to create this system is a loan of more than US$500,000 from the IDB.
On the other hand, Ariel Zaltsman, IDB’s leading specialist in tax management, explained that this system is part of the Program to Improve the Efficiency of Tax Administration and Public Expenditure Management. As part of this program, the design of the georeferencing application in an open-source tool and the acquisition of a georeferencing tool and computer equipment have been financed so far.
White guys in suits
From 1919-1924 Americans “measured and regulated” entire territory of Dominican Republic …
What happened after that is alterations and manipulation of cadastral records …
The alterations have been ongoing for years upon years facilitated by corrupt officials on the take, doing “favors” for the rich and powerful. Many, many, years and money will be devoured to rectify the records, only if the government has a real desire to fix the problem.
The occupation by the US of the RD was from 1916-1924, to keep the Germans and rest of Europe out of the hemisphere and collect depts owed to US and Europe. The measurements and regulations may have been part of the process to figure out RD’s payment capacity.
It has been said there is more land registered in titles than actual land total in the RD. The causes of this are duplication of titles, poor communication between state agencies, corruption, and other causes. It is not unheard, two or more parties having titles for the same lands.
The government has to do a house cleaning to rectify the problem.
The government should also eliminate the taxes on land ownership so there is an incentive for people to come under the fold of formal registration and titling of their land. Can you imagine, current landowners need to pay the famous “Anticipo” tax for land that is not even in production.
It’s about time !!!