Kralendijk- The Executive Council wants to accelerate the maintenance and repair of roads from early 2019.

Government admits that the current state of the road network on Bonaire is poor. In addition to the overdue maintenance of the roads, the quality of roads has also been affected because good water drainage is lacking on large parts of the island. Bonaire does not have sufficient financial resources to deal with the backlogs. According to the ExCo, this is why they have made a strong case (with the Government in the Hague, editor) for a quick approach to the problems. According to a press release from the Council, agreements have been made in the recently signed government agreement to provide extra funds to catch up in backlogged repairs.

The ExCo stated that Repair and renovation are urgently needed. Not only from a social and economic perspective, but also from the point of view of road safety, regional development opportunities and public health. There are also still large part of already developed housing areas which still lack paved roads.

Faulty or lacking drainage
“For many years, little provision has been made on Bonaire for the drainage of rain water. The result is that many areas have flooding, this has major negative consequences for the roads. That is why it has been agreed that a Water Management Plan will be made for Bonaire so that the problems can be clarified and resolved”, according to the release sent out yesterday.

In the Coalition Agreement, the Rutte III Cabinet has agreed that structural 2.75 million euros will be made available annually to Bonaire for the maintenance and repair of roads. Bonaire will receive a one-time sum of 3 million euros for the maintenance of roads in the vicinity of three schools that have a lot of dust nuisance from the unpaved roads. As soon as all plans have been approved, the shovel can start in June 2019 and road works can start.