---
titulo: "Land-Use Planning in Panama: Legal Framework and Plans (POT)"
titulo_seo: "Land-Use Planning in Panama: Law 6 of 2006 and POT"
meta: "Law 6 of 2006 governs land-use planning in Panama. The national, local and partial plans, and how MIVIOT and the municipalities split the power to zone."
autor: "Diego Ospina Serna"
fecha: 2026-07-07
actualizado: 2026-07-07
materia: "Administrative Law"
idioma: "en"
par: "ordenamiento-territorial-en-panama"
resumen: "A guide to land-use planning in Panama: Law 6 of 2006 and its regulation, the planning instruments (national plans, local land-use plans and partial plans), and the division of powers between MIVIOT and the municipalities."
tags: ["Land-Use Planning", "Urban Planning"]
orden: 20260707
faq:
  - q: "What's the difference between land-use planning and zoning?"
    a: "Land-use planning is the general planning of land use; zoning is its concrete application to each property."
  - q: "Who approves a local land-use plan?"
    a: "The municipality, within MIVIOT's framework and technical authority."
fuentes:
  - nombre: "Law 6 of 2006"
    url: "https://iurispa.com/legislacion/ley-6-de-2006/"
  - nombre: "Executive Decree 23 of 2007"
  - nombre: "Law 14 of 2015"
  - nombre: "MIVIOT"
    url: "/transclusion/"
---

Behind the zoning of each lot lies a bigger decision: how the use and occupation of the territory is organized. That is **land-use planning**, and in Panama it has its own legal framework worth knowing before undertaking any urban development.

> Informational guide on Panamanian administrative law.

## The legal framework

- **Law 6 of February 1, 2006**, "regulating land-use planning for urban development" (Official Gazette 25478).
- **Executive Decree 23 of 2007**, which regulates it.
- **Law 14 of 2015**, which amends Law 6 of 2006.

The **Ministry of Housing and Land-Use Planning (MIVIOT)** holds national authority, and the **municipalities** act as local planning authorities.

## What land-use planning is

It is the organization of the use and occupation of the national territory and of urban centers, under two guiding principles: the **social and environmental function of property** and the **prevalence of the general interest over the particular**. It translates development goals (housing, infrastructure, environmental protection, mobility) into concrete rules on where and how to build.

## Planning instruments

Planning unfolds at several scales:

- **National and regional plans**, defined by MIVIOT.
- **Local land-use plans (municipal POTs, Planes de Ordenamiento Territorial)**, at municipal scope.
- **Partial plans**, covering a specific sector of the city.

From these plans descends the **zoning** (see the zoning guide), which applies their rules property by property.

## The division of powers

- **MIVIOT** exercises technical authority: it approves national and regional plans, issues zoning norms and approves urbanization and subdivision plans through its One-Stop Window.
- **Municipalities** may draft, approve, amend and execute the local and partial plans of their jurisdiction, a power reinforced by Law 6 of 2006 and the decentralization process (Law 37 of 2009). In practice, municipal autonomy coexists with MIVIOT's technical authority.

*MIVIOT has been driving a modernization of the land-use planning framework; confirm whether new legislation has been enacted before assuming definitive changes.*

## Why it matters to those who invest or build

Land-use planning defines what is developable, which uses are compatible and at what intensity, and which areas are protected or reserved. A project that ignores the applicable plan can be blocked at the permit stage or even prove unviable. Reviewing it at the outset saves time and capital.