Venezuela: Agreement signed for project in Anzoátegui state

Luis Enrique Berrizbeitia, CAF Vice President & Deputy CEO, and Nelson Moreno, mayor of Antonio José Sotillo municipality in Anzoátegui state, Venezuela, today signed a technical cooperation agreement to modernize the land registry under the project known as "Integrated Automation of the Land Registry System of Sotillo Municipality, Anzoátegui state."

This project is the application and continuity of the actions recommended in the study proposed by CAF in 2002, known as "Strengthening Tax Management in Municipalities in Venezuela," executed by the Spanish consulting firm Schlumberger Sema and financed from the Spanish Fund managed by CAF. The study also included preparation of an action plan for Sotillo Municipality.

This is the second finance that CAF has granted to Sotillo municipality to continue the action plan defined in the study. The contribution of US$180,000 under the new agreement confirms the institution’s role as the main multilateral source of external financing for the countries of the Andean Community. Sotillo municipality has made matching contributions from financing received under the States Special Appropriations Law and its own funds.

The project objectives are to strengthen municipal management and promote the municipality as a "model" for facilitating payment of property taxes, creating incentives for taxpayers to pay on time, and cutting down evasion, as well as providing a more efficient service for citizens. The project is also designed to integrate the municipal land registry into the national system in an effort to develop and strengthen this type of information system at central level.

The actions to be taken in the second phase will be very visible short-term shock actions , designed to have a high impact internally through simplification and improvement of management processes in the municipality, and externally through specific services for the people of the area.

Other tasks pending on the project agenda include modernization of tax management, income improvement, modernization of administrative-financial management and upgrading information technology.