Government announces construction of the first 521 housing units for former combatants in former ETCRs

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​Although the adjudication of land and the construction of housing solutions were not contemplated in the signing of the agreements, President Ivan Duque included this point within the 7 guarantees of the Reincorporation Route. ARN photo. 

​Medellin, Antioquia. March 2, 2022.
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  • Up to 100% may be granted for subsidized housing in kind and up to 80 Minimum Monthly Wages for the construction of rural housing in former ETCRs: MinVivienda. 

  • Even though access to housing for former combatants was not contemplated, we have gone beyond it, thanks to the policy of Peace with Legality: Advisor Archila. 

  • 1,868 hectares of land have been granted for reincorporation, equivalent to more than 3,700 soccer fields, designated for the construction of housing and productive projects: Andres Felipe Stapper 

The Government presented today a positive balance with the main advances of the Reincorporation Route in terms of habitability and housing, one of the 7 guarantees established to benefit people who make their transition to legality throughout the national territory and announced that more than COP$51,000 million have already been appropriated to advance in the contracting of construction projects for 521 housing units in 4 former Territorial Spaces for Training and Reincorporation (ETCRs). 

Jonathan Malagon, Minister of Housing, City and Territory, made three announcements. Two of them related to the guarantee of housing for the population in the process of reincorporation settled in rural areas in the former Territorial Spaces for Training and Reincorporation (ETCRs) and one more, addressed to the more than 4 thousand reincorporated people who live in the country's cities and who will have the possibility of accessing an additional subsidy of Mi Casa Ya for housing acquisition. 

Regarding rural housing in the former ETCRs, in 2020 the first 5 former ETCRs were granted a feasibility certificate: Llano Grande (Dabeiba, Antioquia), Mutata (Mutata, Antioquia), La Fila (Icononzo, Tolima), Filipinas (Arauquita, Arauca) and Los Monos (Caldono, Cauca). Furthermore, a cooperation agreement was signed with the United Nations Multi-Partner Trust Fund for Peace Sustainability to advance in the development of pre-feasibility studies for 8 additional ETCRs, which are being conducted by the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellin headquarters. During 2021, more than COP$51,000 million were appropriated to progress in the contracting of three ETCRs. 

Just this year, and as part of the announcements, the Ministry of Housing, City and Territory (MVCT) signed a contract with the Former ETCR Filipinas 2022 Consortium, of which Caja de Compensación Familiar de Arauca (Arauca Family Compensation Fund) - Comfiar is a member, with an investment of COP$16,830 million to start the construction of 187 housing units and the same number of benefited families. In addition, the contracting for the execution of the other two ETCRs projects is progressing at a good pace. 

The second announcement in this area is related to the beginning of the structuring of a fourth project in former ETCRs, through the Interadministrative Agreement 1125/2022, between the ARN and the MVCT, for COP$5,250 million, for the construction of 75 housing units in the former ETCR Yari in El Doncello, Caqueta. 

"We are going to grant an additional 30 Current Legal Minimum Monthly Wages to the Mi Casa Ya subsidy so that the population in the process of reincorporation can access housing. This means that, under the concurrence schemes with the Family Compensation Funds, it will be possible to receive a total of up to 80 Current Legal Minimum Monthly Wages." - mentioned Minister Malagon explaining the third and last of the announcements and reiterating the National Government's commitment to guarantee housing in the framework of Peace with Legality. 

 "Despite the difficulties of the pandemic, this Government's policy of Peace with Legality aligned political and technical will, and prioritized access to housing for reincorporation with subsidies and land management for the implementation of housing projects for former combatants, an issue that was not contemplated in the signing of the agreements. Today we see tangible results!" said Emilio Jose Archila, Presidential Advisor for Stabilization and Consolidation. 

"The investment in the former ETCRs involved the acquisition of 627 hectares, benefiting 1,150 people in the process of reincorporation and their families. We also purchased a 50-hectare property for productive purposes in Ituango, Antioquia," explained Andres Felipe Stapper Segrera, director of the Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization (ARN). 

According to Stapper, "this process has been achieved thanks to the land access policy as a fundamental factor in the execution of housing and productive projects for people in the reincorporation process, which so far accounts for 1,868 hectares of land for reincorporation, equivalent to more than 3,700 soccer fields, designated for the construction of housing projects in the former Territorial Spaces for Training and Reincorporation (ETCRs) and the development of productive projects". 

For this purpose, the Government set up three legal routes in coordination with the Special Assets Company (SAE) and the National Land Agency (ANT). 

With the direct purchase Route, COP$16,000,000,000 were allocated, of which, to date, close to COP$11,000,000,000 have already been spent on land acquisition for the consolidation of former ETCRs that will benefit about 2,300 people in the process of reincorporation and their families.   

Three additional properties were also made available: one in the ethnic territory of the former ETCR Los Monos, another owned by the Farc in the former ETCR Filipinas (El Porvenir) and another one of 285 hectares in the municipality of Dabeiba, Antioquia. 

The ARN director noted that the Government's efforts in terms of land access are not only limited to the population in the process of reincorporation living in the former ETCRs, "and in this regard we have also made progress in the transference of 16 properties administered by the Special Assets Company (SAE) to people in the process of reincorporation for the implementation of productive projects," he added.

 From Medellin, Antioquia, the national Government insisted on the need to guarantee access to land and housing for those who are transitioning to legality, and highlighted the unceasing commitment of different entities, who are making a permanent effort in the mayors' and governors' offices. 

Rafael Blanco, Government, Peace and Nonviolence Secretary of the Government of Antioquia, expressed the importance of this work that allows to show tangible results, under the articulation and coordination between the different actors that are committed to peacebuilding in the country. "From the Government of Antioquia we have expressed our total commitment to support peacebuilding in the Department, and in this regard we have been accompanying the reincorporation process that 1,321 former combatants are carrying out in the territory of Antioquia," he said. 

Similarly, the national Government will cont​​​inue to manage new territories for the implementation of productive projects and is making progress in the process of purchasing another 13 properties to consolidate 5 more former ETCRs:

 

  • Pondores (Fonseca, La Guajira)

  • Filipinas (Arauquita, Arauca)

  • La Variante (San Andres de Tumaco, Nariño)

  • El Ceral (Timbio-Cauca)

  • Miravalle (San Vicente del Caguan, Caqueta)

"The reincorpo​ration process that is underway in Colombia is one of the most guaranteed in the world, and the actions promoted by the government of President Ivan Duque are leading to an irreversible link between the former combatants and their families. Not only have the economic, health and education guarantees been extended in tim​​e, but also the former ETCRs have been granted permanent status, where an ambitious housing program is being implemented", concluded Advisor Emilio Archila.​


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