Through a statement, the Ministry of Transportation spoke about some statements regarding property valuation for road works, regarding the transparency of the initiative in legal and technical terms, defending this policy.
It is worth explaining that the instrument of National Valorization Contribution (hereinafter valuation) was created by the Law 25 of 1921then was interrupted by the Constitutional Court in 2003, and resumed for implementation through the Law 1819 of 2016and regulated with Decrees 1255 of 2022 and modification 1618 of 2023.
The ministry mentioned that this is not devoid of legality, since “established in Law 1819 of 2016 and other regulations that have been regulating and regulating the provisions contained therein“.
Valorization
And he added: “Furthermore, the financial closure has nothing to do with the authorization that the active subject may or may not have to collect a road infrastructure project for valuation, since Decree 1618 of 2023, in its article 10 expressly establishes the opportunity for the application of the valuation collection, without requiring that from the beginning of the execution of the project the collection had been established, so this argument does not adjust to the normative reality that regulates it.“.
Regarding the technical section, the Mintransporte explained that its infeasibility is not possiblementioning that its collection is based on the selection of the distribution method established in the law, in addition to the study of payment capacity and the determination of the benefit, and exempt or preferential treatments.
Finally, in the case of inequality, the portfolio mentioned that this initiative does not meet this adjective, since “It is charged to those who have the capacity to pay and/or have more than two properties, while it excludes housing properties in strata 1,2,3, active owners belonging to the Sisbén A and B categories and Family Agricultural Units ( UAF), bringing social equity to the territory“.
Valorization
Likewise, the entity was responsible for clarifying the situation in the following points:
1. Valorization has been applied to 44 road infrastructure projects nationwide and 7 of these are located in the Caribbean region. Valuation on the Caribbean coast has been established since 2019.
It is not a pilot, it is the first project in which the regulations that expressly regulate this instrument are applied: Law 1819 of 2016. Therefore, there is a history of national collections, including the signing of inter-administrative agreements with the governorates and municipalities to join forces for the development and financing of public infrastructure works.
2. Although 248,000 properties make up the area of influence of the instrument, only around 147,000 will be taxable due to valuation, given the ability to pay and/or that their holders or owners register timeshare ownership.
3. The distributable amount is NOT the same collection, since a significant percentage is represented in the collection exemptions. Thus, the final collection amounts to approximately $1.2 billion.
4. The Constitution does not limit or restrict the distributable amounts or the collections for valuation, in addition, it is NOT a collection that violates the constitutional principles and is NOT retroactive because the project is still in execution, at the level of Functional Unit 3, in charge of Invías.
5. The corridor susceptible to valuation is NOT unfinished. It was designed and executed in accordance with the needs of the Average Daily Traffic (TPD), so there are sections on dual carriageways and others on single carriageways.
6. With the valuation, the road is NOT being charged, part of the benefit acquired by the increase in the value of the properties, as a result of the execution of the project, is being collected. As of July 2024, the national government has paid a sum close to 1.2 billion current pesos in future periods for works on the Cartagena – Barranquilla – Circunvalar de La Prosperidad corridor. In addition, this corridor still has scheduled disbursements with future validity until 2033 for an amount similar to that already drawn.
7. The purpose of the property census is to fully define the owners or possessors of the properties and the physical, economic, social and use circumstances of the land and is NOT constituted as the acceptance of the collection of the valuation. Entering the portal, as well as user registration and completing the verification and update procedure, does not indicate that the taxpayer is accepting the payment or that he or she loses his or her right to file claims or replacement resources established by the Law, On the contrary, this update serves precisely to corroborate that the data contained in the census is correct and therefore the settlement of the contribution (in the case of a taxable property) will be based on the reality of the property.
8. Article 248 of Law 1819 of 2016 establishes nine distribution methods, of which the Distance Weighted Appraisal Method was selected, which establishes among its variables, the calculation with the commercial appraisal and the closest distance of the property to the construction site.
9. The valuation instrument is in the socialization stage, and it will not be until the rate settlement stage for each property that the individual value of the contribution is communicated, the assessment that the payments will be excessively high being inaccurate.
10. Likewise, and in accordance with the law, payment capacity limits have been established for taxable properties, which are estimated to be the equivalent amount of one, two and up to three property taxes, according to the use of the property and socioeconomic stratum. Taxpayers will have payment facilities for up to four years.
11. The resources collected from valuation will be reinvested entirely in the region and, as provided by the norm, exclusively in infrastructure works. In the specific case of the Caribbean region, it will be in those works agreed upon with the territorial entities and addressing the needs expressed in various spaces by the living forces of the Colombian Caribbean.
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