Corruption may be fueling much of Cuenca’s construction boom, municipal council members say

Why do large, politically connected construction companies receive building permits within two to three months while small companies and individuals sometimes wait for years? Cuenca municipal councilwoman Jenny Bermeo says she knows the answer and is asking the Attorney General’s and National Comptroller’s offices to begin formal investigations of the city’s Urban Control Unit.

Cuenca municipal councilors Román Carabajo, Jenny Bermeo and Federico Guzmán at Monday’s press conference at the Mayor’s Office. (El Mercurio)

In a Monday press conference, Bermeo and fellow councilors Román Carabajo and Federico Guzmán said they had found “irregularities, breaches of administrative procedure and possible illegalities” in 3,000 building permits issued since 2023.

“In our review, we have discovered major issues of non-compliance in the permitting processes by employees of Urban Control,” she said, adding that favoritism was “consistently shown” to the rich and powerful.

In granting permits to more than 100 high-rise condominium projects, Bermeo said the Urban Control Unit often violated zoning rules intended to protect traditional neighborhoods and did not consider requirements for additional infrastructure to accommodate thousands of new residents.

“Neighborhoods such as Puertas del Sol, Chirimoya and near Ordóñez Lasso are changing almost overnight,” Carabajo says. “Families who have lived in there for years see no option but to sell after their neighbors sell to developers,” he says. “Who wants to live next to 10-story building that blocks the sunlight and destroys your privacy?”

Of those who remain in neighborhoods that have become “construction zones,” Carabajo says he hears frequent complaints of blocked driveways, continual showers of concrete dust and high noise levels. “Some of my friends are suffering respiratory illnesses from the pollution and can’t sleep at night because of machinery that runs 18 hours a day.”

Bermeo says she sees little evidence of planning for the rapid growth. “We need massive expansion of the drinking water and sewerage systems, not to mention provisions for increased electricity needs and we don’t see these plans,” she says. “Neither do we see plans to address increased street traffic in areas where new high-rises are under construction.”

At the press conference, Carabajo reported that he, Bermeo and Guzmán and their staffs evaluated 5,600 city administrative processes carried out since 2023. “More than 4,900 of these involved construction permits and it is astonishing that we found serious irregularities in 3,000 of these, many of them clear violations of permitting procedures and urban development rules.”

According to the three councilors, 855 construction permits were issued in 2023, 1,462 in 2024, 1,417 in 2025, and 818 through July of 2026. “These numbers reflect the city’s rapid population growth, but they also require a diligent and competent planning process to accommodate that growth,” Carabajo says.

Bermeo worries that uncontrolled growth will reduce the quality of life in Cuenca. “We are well-known for the being the most desirable city in the country in terms of culture and security, but we are in danger of losing this distinction if we allow chaotic and unplanned growth to continue,” she says. “Thousands of people are moving to Cuenca because of its reputation and because of safety concerns on the coast, but we have obligations to citizens already living here.”

In addition to claims against the city’s Urban Control Unit, Bermeo, Carabajo and Guzmán questioned the legality of hundreds of contracts executed by public companies that provide services to the city. “We are turning over nine cases for investigation by prosecutors and we expect to present many more,” Bermeo said.

Specifically, she questioned the practice of people and companies not named in contracts receiving payment from the public utility company ETAPA. “We found 127 contracts with suspicious financial assignments and subrogations that have been executed in the past 28 months and we will refer some of these to enforcement authorities as our investigations continue.”