Feb 28
News

Chamber of Commerce organizes a follow-up meeting for construction sector

Recently, a follow-up meeting took place at the Chamber of Commerce (KvK), between representatives of the construction sector and deputy Anjelica Cicilia and OLB employees.

This meeting was a follow-up to an earlier meeting where a group of representatives of the construction sector had expressed their concerns to the KvK about the delays they experience in the permit process and the consequences thereof. In response, the KvK sent a letter to the OLB and sat down with deputy Anjelica Cicilia.

As facilitator, the KvK organised the follow-up meeting where both the OLB and the group of representatives of the construction sector were present and both explained their concerns and vision. In addition to the above points, the following topics were discussed:

The construction sector:

  • Housing regulation
  • Lack of a Structural Vision
  • Failure to release leasehold land
  • Unclear new construction and resale requirements for leasehold land
  • Housing deal and issuing building permits
  • There are currently hardly any large projects within the construction sector, which has led to many layoffs
  • Rising transport costs which makes investing less attractive.
  • The construction sector requests the OLB to communicate better to the outside world what the intentions are

The construction sector has united and is in the process of establishing an Association for Building Bonaire. At the start, this will consist of the following members B4U Development (board member), Blokkenfabriek, BONNED Contractors (board member), BWM, Deco, Haafkes, Kooyman, NijBo, Playa Trading, Roosdom Tijhuis Bonaire (board member), Steen Bouwadvies and StoneCrusher. After establishment, other organizations in the construction sector can also join.

The Public Entity Bonaire (OLB):

  • Leasehold conditions will remain unchanged for the time being to prevent abuse.
  • The OLB strives to ensure that everyone has fair access to housing and that the right people are offered a home. To this end, a starting note for a Housing Ordinance has been submitted to the Island Council. The purpose of the ordinance is to regulate the market but not to ruin it, but to ensure that everyone has fair access to housing and that the right people are offered a home. Homes up to $533,000 USD are reserved for certain target groups. Provincial Executive Anjelica Cicilia has indicated that the OLB is open to adjusting this amount.
  • The construction sector is reassured by the OLB, leasehold lands will continue to be released to developers. Deputy Anjelica Cicilia also indicates that she will address the internal civil service so that the correct information is provided to the outside world by them
  • The OLB acknowledges that issuing building permits is a major challenge but assures that everything is being done to improve this process within the government
  • Despite the signals that construction is at a standstill, the figures show that it is not at a standstill due to the increasing number of work permits.
  • Signals from the sector are that companies are not committed to the correct wage payment in accordance with the established statutory minimum wage
  • A call to the construction sector is to share more data with OLB.

The Chamber of Commerce looks back on a constructive dialogue between the construction sector and the OLB and is confident that the parties involved will continue to seek each other out and work together to tackle the challenges in the sector together and “Join forces”.