More cooperation, guarantee of a good service, greater celerity, restructuring of services, better internal and external communication are some of the main objectives of the new urban planning council of the Lisbon City Council, led by Joana Almeida.
Attending the event "Meet Up Lisbon - A region to invest", organized by Iberian Property and Meridiana, which anticipates Lisbon's participation in MIPIM, the councilor for Urbanism highlighted that the municipality will work for «greater cooperation in the development of projects that add value to the city's neighborhoods».
Problems are already identified, namely in systems such as Onlinedesk, Geslis or the CML website itself. In licensing there is «a liability of 3,182 processes», which urbanism wants to reduce, warning that, upon entry, about 30% of projects are poorly instructed. «It's teamwork. In the Chamber, we have to facilitate the work and be clear, and we all have to improve», says the mayor.
Communication is another of the main issues on which the new executive proposes to work. «We want to create communication channels and internal forums to improve the homogeneity of the assessment and decision of the processes, promote the internal consultation of opinions, improve communication with citizens and articulation with other forms of CML». The municipality has also applied for European funds «to explore BIM in urban licensing and develop this methodology».
On the other hand, it is also a priority to standardize documentation, namely «to prepare procedures and technical manuals, clarify urban rules and their dissemination, so that we have more efficiency, transparency and predictability».
The first steps have already been taken. Joana Almeida highlighted the recent approval of a new team to manage and advance these objectives, which proposes to reformulate the urban licensing processes, «so that the entire management of the opinions is very clear».
On the other hand, institutional cooperation is underway with various entities, namely InvestLisboa, the Ordem dos Arquitectos or APPII. «We will have monthly conversations with these associations, to develop this work together».
JOANA ALMEIDA, CML URBANISM COUNSELOR
Better communication with the municipality is essential to attract investment
Urban licensing «is extremely important for investment in the country. It is one of the topics that immediately comes up on the table when we talk to investors», guarantees Cláudia Beirão Lopes, from Reify., participant in the debate moderated by António Gil Machado, director of Iberian Property, which took place during the Meet Up, according to which « the subject of communication has not improved in recent years». And he gives the example of the «big investment» that CML made in the technicians' mobile phones, which «are not being used for anything. People have to have the tools they need for their work».
Claude Kandiyoti, from Krest Real Estate, also calls for effective communication: “We need defined response timings. A year without answers puts the project at risk. We need someone in charge of the project from A to Z, namely the big projects». And he warns that, when preparing a new investment, the real estate developer already “looks to other chambers in the Lisbon region to be more certain”, to the detriment of the capital.
Diogo Pinto Gonçalves, from Westport International and also a representative of APPII, warns that «the profitability achieved today in Lisbon is clearly lower than in other countries, due to an overly complex administrative process. We want to be partners with the Chamber, makers of cities, give life to neighborhoods, and many times we cannot because we are waiting for simple answers». And he considers that «there is political will, but the hardest part is motivating and putting crystallized administrative teams to work». He guarantees that «the CML can count on the APPII and the promoters to be part of this working group».
Pedro Coelho, from Square AM, reiterates that «the processes have to be efficient, regardless of political color. It is important that simple projects are approved quickly», and he believes that «a project manager for large projects is essential».
Closing the event, Hugo Santos Ferreira, President of APPII, highlighted that promoters and municipalities still have «much work ahead», and that «the fight for speed of urban licensing must be one of the main battles of municipal executives, it is fundamental to attract investment, make more housing available, lower prices, make housing more affordable'.
Regarding the figure of the single interlocutor, defended by the association and already created in the CML, he highlights that «it must be improved and effectively be the only point of contact in the CML, it must be easily contactable, preferably speak English, report directly to the councilor or director municipality, to have a manual of good practices». And he also agrees that «municipal technicians must improve the issue of communication, have full availability of service, be easily contactable». He concludes that “the housing shortage affects us all, and the municipalities have a lot to say in this matter”.
Portugal returns to MIPIM on March 15
MIPIM returns this year from the 15th to the 18th of March and expects to receive between 15,000 and 20,000 people, with 97% of the exhibition space already reserved.
According to Rui Coelho, representative of MIPIM in Portugal, also participating in this event, this year Lisbon, Porto and, for the first time, Vila Nova de Gaia participate in the event, together in a single «core of Portugal».
He highlights that, at MIPIM, «businesses are closed that make a difference», and that this participation «is important to attract investment for the city, sell products or services, establish partnerships with international players».
Rui Coelho shares that “until then, many of the current restrictions [due to the pandemic] should be lifted, so everything will be easier in terms of mobility”.
Diogo Ivo Cruz, from InvestLisboa, one of the organizers of the Portuguese participation, reiterated that «the Lisbon stand is open to private companies that want to be present and that want to present their projects». He considers that «the main advantages are the access to a large group of well-capitalized investors with an interest in Lisbon, a very attractive international brand, the sharing of costs that allows greater exposure, better location, more services at the stand, and lower costs».
GEO-IP, a new way of publicizing investment opportunities
This year, the joint stand in Portugal will have available a new geo-referenced platform focused on promoting the Lisbon region and its investment opportunities, the GEO-IP – Lisbon Geo-Investment Platform, created by technological Evolutio.
It is an interactive map of the city, with several layers of information, including market price indices from Confidencial Imobiliário or news, designed to be an interactive attention-grabbing experience. David Vaz, from Evolutio, explains that «we want to attract investment to the city of Lisbon, presenting the territory, capturing the attention of investors at the fairs, and allowing them to continue to explore information outside the fair. It is a permanent platform, it has all the information available».
This application is designed for municipalities, developers or consultants.