SETENA questions

[juliab]

Is it true that any construction requires approval from SETENA? Is it possible to do that yourself or it’s better to hire one of their consultants promoted on their website? Is it that complicated?
I was told that the price for D2 formulario is going to increase to 3K on August 1st. Is that true?
I was told that we need D1 for any construction under 300 sq mts and D2 for more than 300, but I don’t see any specifics on the SETENA web site. How can I figure out which formulario I need: D1 or D2?

Is that a new requirement? None of the acquaintances who recently built houses have any info (most never heard of SETENA). Is it possible that we don’t need neither D1, nor D2?

[crhomebuilder]

Prior to SETENA, you will need a licensed professional to present your construction plans to the CFIA, [ http://www.cfia.or.cr ], and then INVU, [ http://www.invu.go.cr ]

We need to create our construction plans and pay the CFIA to establish the value of our projects before the permitting process begins.

Then you must submit your plans along with preliminary approvals for water, electric and sewage to INVU in order to get the permitting process started.

Following approvals from the above, then SETENA, ICT and the Municipalities need to be dealt with.

To the best of my knowledge, current regulations state that projects under 300 m2 do not require filing of the D1 form, (evaluacion ambiental) for SETENA approval. [ http://www.setena.go.cr/pp_tramites.html ]

Unless your property is located in the ZMT, Maritime Zone. There is a new proposal being evaluated by the government whereby the municipalities will handle the permitting process for construction up to 1,000 m2, but currently it is not in effect.

You can review [ http://www.tramites.go.cr/manual/espanol/7/7-4.htm ] for additional information.

As far as consultants recommended on a government website, plan on paying US based professional fees, as they are all attempting to establish credibility in an ever-changing bureaucracy.

[juliab]

Thank you!
I was looking all over their website trying to find anything about “300 sq mts”. Could you, please confirm this link:
http://www.setena.go.cr/pp_tramites.html
It dosn’t work for me. It sounds exactly what I was looking for.

Actually the guy from the municipality was asking only for SETENA approval and planos. The project isn’t a competely new one. We’re modifying the existing property. The modifications are within the borders of the pre-existing construction.
May be that approval is all they want, but it might be only a beginning. “Uso de suelos” isn’t changing (I might be wrong..), but the type of activity is. The new activity (a tiny hotel) will have significantly smaller impact on the environment, so I don’t even understand why we’d need the SETENA approval. Does that make any sense at all?

Edited on Jul 30, 2008 09:36

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