A high-stake forum focused on cutting red tape for real estate development, titled “Towards Efficient Permitting: Challenges and Solutions”, was recently convened at Cap Cana Destination City. The event was organized in a collaborative partnership between the popular destination development and the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Housing, Habitat, and Buildings (MIVHED), drawing a cross-sector audience of senior government officials, leading real estate developers, and global investment stakeholders. The gathering centered on identifying actionable strategies to simplify and accelerate the approval workflow for real estate projects across the country.
Speaking at the forum, Housing Minister Víctor “Ito” Bisonó detailed the sweeping changes MIVHED has rolled out to modernize the nation’s construction permitting ecosystem. The reform agenda centers on four core pillars: systemic process overhauls, full digitalization of administrative workflows, deeper coordinated engagement with private sector stakeholders, and the retention of rigorous technical safety and quality standards. Minister Bisonó emphasized that the end goal of these reforms is far-reaching: cut down unnecessarily long approval timelines, strip out redundant bureaucratic procedures, boost overall transparency for all market participants, and deliver stronger legal certainty for developers and investors.
In a key progress update shared at the event, Bisonó announced that MIVHED issued 921 formal building permits across the Dominican Republic in the first half of 2026. That figure marks an 83% year-over-year increase compared to the same period in 2025, and the approved projects are backed by more than RD$330 billion in private sector investment. To build on this early momentum, the minister also unveiled plans for a newly designed, nationwide digital permitting platform. The platform will centralize all application, review, and approval processes, making it easier for applicants to track their projects in real time and improve end-to-end traceability of every request.
Jorge Subero Medina, Chief Executive Officer of Cap Cana, echoed the government’s focus on permitting reform in his remarks at the forum. He stressed that a fast, transparent, and efficient permitting system is a non-negotiable foundation for long-term, sustainable economic development across the Dominican Republic. Subero Medina highlighted that robust public-private collaboration, clear and consistent regulatory frameworks, and ongoing open institutional dialogue work together to strengthen investor confidence, position the Dominican Republic as a top destination for real estate investment, and lift the nation’s long-term global economic competitiveness.