SANTO DOMINGO – In a key step forward for the Dominican Republic’s national development strategy, José Ignacio Paliza, the nation’s Minister of the Presidency, has officially submitted a landmark piece of legislation to the Dominican Senate. The bill seeks formal approval for the country’s long-awaited National Territorial Planning Plan (PNOT) while laying out clear regulatory frameworks for the plan’s implementation, inter-agency coordination, ongoing monitoring, and impact evaluation.
Rooted in the existing Law No. 368-22 on Territorial Planning, Land Uses and Human Settlements, the proposal is designed to establish a cohesive national framework that guides all public and private decision-making related to land use and territorial occupation. It aligns diverse public policies across government agencies with the specific socioeconomic, environmental, and developmental needs of the country’s distinct regions and local territories, addressing a longstanding gap in fragmented spatial planning across the Dominican Republic.
A core provision of the bill is the creation of formal coordination mechanisms that integrate the PNOT with other planning instruments operating under the umbrella of the National Territorial Planning System. This integration is intended to streamline the execution of territorial planning initiatives nationwide, eliminating overlapping responsibilities and ensuring consistent implementation from the national level down to municipal and local governments.
Additionally, the legislation includes explicit provisions for regular monitoring and evaluation of the PNOT’s progress. These rules grant relevant government authorities the formal mandate to track implementation milestones, adjust strategies where needed, and conduct periodic assessments to determine whether the plan’s core developmental and spatial organization objectives are being met. This focus on accountability marks a shift toward more data-driven, transparent planning in the country.
All provisions of the bill are aligned with overarching guiding principles that require the PNOT to be interpreted consistently with the baseline Law No. 368-22 and its associated implementing regulations. Chapter II of the bill specifically focuses on defining the national plan’s scope and positioning it as the central, overarching instrument for organizing and planning sustainable development across the entire Dominican territory.