There’s not enough land to grant and have to go up. It is not new, it has been known for many years that there is not enough land to continue building horizontal houses. There is no land to keep up with the demands of building individual homes on leased land and for those who want to build their homes on their own property is also becoming more difficult and certainly more expensive.
There is nothing left but to begin the community awareness that the buildings must go upwards. The Caribbean Town project in Bushiri is a good example of this. I had the honor of initiating the whole process of public offer which started in 2018 the policy of granting leases land for the construction of residential buildings for our own people. This was necessary given the number of pending petitions in the DIP, former minister Otmar Oduber said. At that time, it was possible to overcome the backlog of applications dating from 1994 to 2012, but it was already known that there would be a cultural shift, where high-rise buildings would have to be built to meet the backlog from 2013 to 2020 and beyond. Today we are 4 years later and unfortunately we do not see anything more happening to achieve this demand for land and housing for our people.
DIP is paralyzed, in a coma, and meanwhile we are once again getting even more delay in the requests for another four years, after being on a very good path. A number of “subdivision plans” were released in 2019 to be implemented in “working plans” to continue with the granting of land, while working on several similar projects in “Carribean Town” in Bushiri, where the government would have granted leases land to companies for the construction of “Gated Communities” with modern criteria with their own recreational area, social and with security. Among other things, a plan has been advanced in coordination with APFA in Pos Chikito for about 400 housing units in a first phase and 300 additional housing units in a second phase. Also in San Nicolas was a completely clear plan of 3 buildings that would have created about 220 housing units, which included a group of local architects and engineers, who came together to present this plan to the government. Another project left open for execution is the Sero Colorado project, which at the time had a subdivision plan with expansion for about 260 households in two different plans.
Again it is very unfortunate that the DIP is still paralyzed and the Parliament of Aruba is silent on it. There is no need for meetings to be informed about the inefficiency of the department. What needs to be is the courage “balls” to take decisions and execute what was already on the table four years ago, Otmar Oduber said. Our people are crying out for the opportunity to have their own house and to make it their home. It is the government’s duty and obligation to facilitate this to the citizens and lack of courage and determination is harming the community. “If in 3 years time in 2018 and 2019 we have recovered a delay of almost 20 years, how can it be possible that since 4 years ago, we could not have recovered even 1 year more and worse still there is no interest to continue with the vision left behind in 2019 to build vertical buildings, going up and so in combination with the land still available that the DIP gets.
In a complete delay of those waiting to have their own housing, former minister Oduber said.
