KRALENDIJK- The Public Entity Bonaire signed an extensive agreement with the company Bonaire Builders all the way back in 2014, for the construction of an affordable housing project at Kaya Tanki Matrimonio.

In the agreement, drawn up in the name of Island Governor Edison Rijna, but signed by Commissioner James Kroon, the Public Entity promises to take care of the surfacing of the roads; a promise that has not yet been fulfilled more than eight years later .

Initially, the project seemed off to a flying start. A request for the allocation of the necessary leashold lots by director/owner Herbert X.J. de Jong on behalf of Bonaire Builders, dated March 11, 2014, led to a signed agreement as soon as June 11, 2014. An unprecedented speed for local standards. Maduro & Curlielsbank was also involved in the project, by providing mortgages to the intended owners.

The agreement states, among other things, that Bonaire Builders will take care of the leveling of the roads and drainage, but that the OLB will then take care of -among other things- the paving of the roads. “…that the further construction of other required infrastructure (including but not limited to paved roads, road signs, traffic signs, street names, sidewalks, landscaping and street lighting) in accordance with OLB’s policy and planning will be at the expense and risk of OLB”, can be read in point 6 of the agreement. What is unusual however, is the addition of the phrase “which planning is currently not clearly defined”, which means that the OLB’s commitment at that time does not appear to be very concrete and does not contain concrete dates.

Residents

The residents and often owners of the project, which was realized in collaboration with, among others, the OLB and the Maduro & Curielsbank are now faced with the consequences of the agreements that have not been met. This creates the impression that Bonaire Builders and the OLB are pointing at each other, without there being an actual solution so far.