The governor Jenniffer González This Thursday promised to expedite the grant of permits and maximize the use of federal reconstruction funds “that could be lost”, through the creation of an infrastructure council, the use of artificial intelligence and the collaboration between agencies and professional guilds to amend the applicable regulations.
“I took the opportunity to announce the creation of the Council of Infrastructure and Construction, and selected five members of the Association of General Contractors in the area of energy, construction, housing and in the area of permits ”said the first executive, at the end of his participation in the first activity of the new Board of Directors said organization.
The Council will be made up of private sector volunteers, González said, adding that he will have members of other industries.
He recalled, incidentally, that on January 2, on his first day as governor, he signed two executive orders (OE-2025-002 and OE-2025-003) For “the acceleration of permits processes, the creation in the Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC) of a conglomerate of employees of each of the agencies that grant permits to expedite that process ”.
“(The DDEC) is running a pilot plan that we are waiting for it to work and allow, with the use of artificial intelligencethat the ministerial permits leave in one day, instead of in a week ”he stood out about new technologies to eliminate bureaucracy.
He explained that his DDEC proposal is directed to the “discretionary permits that have a change of use”, such as the change of a medical office to an accounting.
“Currently, it takes you for a week or two weeks doing such things. Once the program works, that first conversion that goes with the permits of change of ministerial use, ”he said.
In addition, he promised that he will make 15 changes for the streamlining of permits, among them, that “unlimited corrections are allowed when projects are presented”. “We talk about a digital validation system, about the technical review, of the pre -consults that were previously allowed and no longer allowed”he added.
Another change that will be incorporated, in a new executive order, will be that the maximum period of response of an agency will be 30 days. “If not answering in the term arranged, the permission will be given,” said the governor.
As part of the challenges facing this industry, he mentioned that the delay can have the domino effect of loss of financing or labor.
“We do not want to lose federal funds. We have some that are bound until August of this year, others that had to start construction and have not begun. We are going to use the ‘expertise’ of private sector and government professionals to help in the reconstruction of Puerto Rico, ”he said.