Colombia - economic aspects of the country's land use

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, The,  Dec, 2000  by Fernanda Furtado

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First, the long-standing use of the CV solidified a fiscal culture, that is, popular acceptance of the concept of participating in the costs of the urban development process as well as in its benefits. This is a very sensitive issue in Latin American countries. Many of the incentives to strengthen the property tax in the region, such as those promoted by multilateral agencies, were obstructed because of failure to take into careful consideration the need for this prerequisite. The established fiscal culture may certainly be accurately regarded by Colombia as advantageous to the positive understanding of the new instrument by the people.

Second, human and technical resources were developed in the field of land and real estate with the continuous operation of the CV. Colombia is a pioneer in Latin America in offering a career in land and real estate assessing to prospective public officials. This is an essential ingredient for dealing with issues involved in the functioning of urban land markets, and is a much needed requirement for the fiscal and urban planning public departments all over Latin America. From this viewpoint, Colombia is now well prepared to face the procedural and technical challenges posed by the new instrument.

Finally, the effective use of the CV was made possible by overcoming serious ambiguities that existed in the legislation or that arose in the implementation process. The Colombian case offers strong evidence that this is a sine qua non condition if such value capture instruments are to work effectively in Latin America. Without it, no matter how much care is taken in the theoretical design of the instrument and the approval of the necessary laws and norms, all such effort may be in vain.

To Colombia, the achievements in this process constitute important precedents to be considered in the construction of political pacts that can accommodate the diverse interests and motivations involved in the operation of local urban land markets.

Dr. Furtado, whose background is in architecture and urban planning, is a fellow and faculty member of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. She contributed Chapter 6, "Columbia" (pp. 97-110).

(*.) Fernanda Furtado holds a Ph.D. in urban planning from the University of Sao Paulo, and is also an architect. She is currently a fellow and faculty member of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and has served as a research assistant in the Institute for Research on Urban and Regional Planning of the Federal University of Rio de Janiero. Dr. Furtado is the author of two published papers and an article, and co-author of a book chapter--all dealing with land-value capture and related issues in Latin America.

The author acknowledges the support of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy which made possible the carrying out of field research in Bogota between 1995 and 1998 and the completion of her doctoral dissertation on the subject. Special thanks are due to Martim O. Smolka for fertile discussions on the Colombian experience.