Scioli won’t veto private property bill

Buenos Aires province Governor Daniel Scioli yesterday decided to rule out applying a “partial veto” to a law which received first approval two weeks ago by the province legislature and which would ostensibly force gated communities to build social housing, although he suggested that the goal should be to find “a balance” between private endeavours and social responses.

In a statement released yesterday afternoon, the Buenos Aires provincial government announced that “when the bill is implemented, (the government) will ensure that no aquired rights nor the right to private property are violated,” after a meeting held between Cabinet Chief Alberto Pérez and provincial representatives.

Earlier in the day, in television and radio interviews, the governor had suggested a veto would be considered, stating that “we must find a balance between allowing social housing to be implemented while ensuring that the province continues to attract investments and urban developments. In Buenos Aires province, neither private property nor acquired rights will be violated.”

On October 18, the provincial Lower House approved the first reading of a bill referred to as the “Countries Law”, which, among other items, requires large housing projects to provide land for the construction of social housing.

The initiative was supported by the majority of the caucuses, and solely opposed by deputies linked to Francisco de Narváez and his Blue and White Union party, who described the measure as “an assault on private property.”

In this context, Scioli stated yesterday that he was “not” ruling out a “partial veto” of the law.

“If we have to make a correction, we have the tools to do so: either through the correction of the law, or in the implementation of the law, or with a partial veto. The mechanisms are in place for a consensus and there is no reason for a political putsch,” said the governor.

Scioli added that “it is important that those families that lack housing can be provided with solutions, but it is also important to keep on advancing with real estate endeavours, because private investment is required to keep generating employment.”

“Let there be no doubts: nobody will be caught off guard, because no-one will have to cede any acquired land. I want to transmit total calm regarding the rationality with which this is going to be applied,” said the governor.

The bill, which still has to be approved by the provincial Senate before passing into law, includes a clause which would require large property projects undergone in the province to cede land or provide a “financial compensation” for the construction of “social housing.”

Article 51 of the bill establishes that those properties that will be “subject to the required payment of contribution” include country clubs, gated communities, private cemeteries and all large shopping centres that “occupy spaces of over 5,000 square metres.”

The bill also states that those projects will “cede a payment of the definitive determination, subject to the calculation of the equivalence and final evaluation, of 10 percent of the total surface of the affected properties or their equivalent in money or urbanizable soil.”

A further stipulation of the bill is that municipal districts, when authorizing large housing projects, require these to develop social housing plans or set aside areas in which houses can be built.

Herald with DyN