New Urban Simplex will go to the Council of Ministers in the coming weeks, guarantees Pinto Luz

The Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Miguel Pinto Luz, announced this Friday that the review of the Simplex Urbanístico will go to the Council of Ministers in the coming weeks.

"The Simplex legislative process is closed and, therefore, will go to the Council of Ministers in the coming weeks", stated Miguel Pinto Luz at the conference "Land Law: Changes to the RJIGT - Legal Framework for Territorial Management Instruments - Challenges and Opportunities" promoted by the Association of Civil Construction and Public Works Industrialists (AICCOPN), in Porto.

The minister said that no one was satisfied with Simplex, which "was Simplex in name only", and for this reason, the consensus for its change was widespread among business associations, professional orders, municipal councils and banks.

"All those who, in some way, were putting the previous Simplex at risk", he said.

Miguel Pinto Luz pointed out that the number of licenses issued, which did not increase, is a reflection of how "Simplex" did not work.

During his speech, the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing explained that, while the Urban Simplex is not approved, the Government is making `Built-to-Rent´ contracts and Public-Private Partnerships (PPP).

"I can say here that the 'Built-to-Rent' contract [provision of public properties for housing with rent or affordable prices] is now crystallized in law to be taken to the Council of Ministers and will allow entrepreneurs to sign a trust contract, in this case with the IHRU [Housing and Urban Rehabilitation Institute], which guarantees the sustainability of public policies for a long period of 25, 30 years and, therefore, it is a contract that if from one day to the next another Government decides to change the laws and alter the regulatory framework from one moment to the next, the entrepreneur invokes that contract and can be compensated in some way", he explained.

He added: "On the PPP side, it's the same thing and, therefore, we want to encourage it a lot. Today, we are finalizing the assessment in terms of the State's available assets and we want this PPP process to be absolutely fast, that is, a private party comes together, presents its intention for a specific State property that is vacant and, in very short steps, can start implementing its project."

The government official understood that these contracts must work in a symbiotic way, otherwise there will be no sufficient dynamism on the private side.

Regarding the relationship with the banks, Miguel Pinto Luz revealed that the Government will have news in the coming days.

"The Government really wants to work to find new platforms to finance promoters with longevity, with greater priority for their credits with banks and, therefore, the State has to come here to help", he highlighted.

The minister insisted that the Government wants to create new mechanisms for housing credit to facilitate and relieve the burden on buyers, because the housing problem is serious and a scourge.