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local Tuesday 9 May 2023
According to the law,

the Three Rivers projects

has a suspended

construction permit

(Oranjestad)—It was in
November 2019 when the However, the minister had
minister of Tourism, Dangui rejected the objection on
Oduber, announced the March 9th, 2021 and the
“groundbreaking” Secrets citizens have subsequently
Baby Beach Resort in Baby filed an appeal against this
Beach, a project that in- on April 16th, 2021. They in-
cluded the construction of formed that the court has
an all-inclusive hotel with stated in its first sentence
600 rooms, according to that as long as the minister
ROPV. in charge does not respond
to the objection of the citi-
Last Saturday, a group of zens, the construction must
residents from Sero Colo- be put on hold.
rado informed through a The petition at Lar was to been poor attention paid Finally, the judge conclud-
press release that by law, The government has stat- suspend the construction to the 4-meter space un- ed that article 59 means
the Three Rivers project has ed, based on the decree permit. Because this was derground, which is at the that the construction per-
a suspended constructions of March 9th 2021, that it not suspended based on level of the cliff. mit of Three Rivers is sus-
permit and because of this, does not consider the ob- article 59 of Building and pended. As such, they are
there is no authorization for jection admissible, which Housing Ordinance, the Moreover, the residents not allowed to continue
continuing to construct the resulted in the citizens to file court has considered the have argued that the with the construction. The
‘Secrets’ Hotel. an appeal at the Adminis- protested have complied “construction plan”, based fact that this is already 45%
trative Court on April 15th, with all requirements of the on its locations or system of complete is their argument
It has been indicated in 2021. The judge stated in appeal. construction, will be a huge that the inhabitants have
the press release that the his sentence that he does hindrance to the environ- no urgent reason to be
judge of the Administrative consider the residents to The government and Three ment. Furthermore, they against the plans.
Court Lar, Mr. W.C.E. Win- have a valid reason in two Rivers have also argued have argued that after
field considered the peti- of their arguments and has that there is no urgent in- construction, considering The minister of Territorial Or-
tion made by the residents instructed the government terest with their appeal, its location and its forms or dinance and Infrastructure
for Lar to order the govern- to make a decision on the seeing as they knew since system of construction, will was represented by the
ment to suspend the con- objection within a three- May 2022 that the com- affect the view and priva- Minister of Judicial Affairs,
struction permit not neces- week time span. pany, with the approval of cy of the inhabitants of the and Three Rivers was repre-
sary, because in article 59 the government, has con- area. The plans show that sented by Mr. Reinkemeyer
of the Building and Housing However, the government tinued with the construc- the building is too close and Mr. Ruiz.
Ordinance, it states that the and Three Rivers have both tion, which at this point is to their plots and that the
moment there is an appeal appealed this sentence already 45% complete. building is more than one Before construction even
for this permit, construction and the court has yet to story high. In other words, began, the residents near-
must be put on hold until give another on May 24th, They have denied that the this will be a very big struc- by have asked for more
further notice. 2023. Furthermore, the gov- plan does not comply with ture. information on this project,
ernment has decided on all its requirements and but they have received
As such, the fact that the may 5th 2022 that the ob- they reject the notion that The most plausible argu- transparency from the
government decided to jections considered as val- according to article 59, the ment was the fact that proj- company or government’s
allow this construction to id by Lar had no basis. construction permit is sus- ect goes against the ROPV end. In their opinion, the
continue, without attend- pended. law and the construction developer must be careful
ing to the objections of the Through letters, the citizens plan indicates a project of with the traffic that this ho-
residents nearby is against have protested against this The residents have said 600 all-inclusive rooms, plus tel will bring in the area. The
the law and therefore also decision by the govern- that a part of the building an additional 300 standard ROPV also states that dur-
create unnecessary finan- ment and in doing so, has does not match with near- rooms. This brings the total ing construction time, the
cial risks for the community brought attention to the by houses and overall am- to 900 rooms, while ROPV developer must be mindful
of Aruba as well as the de- authorities that they must bience. The construction states that the hotel is only of the constant noises that
velopers. take the right steps so that also affects the air and light permitted a maximum of can become a nuisance to
this project does not con- quality for the residents and 600 rooms at this specific the residents and visitors of
A total of ten citizens, rep- tradict the law. This means that it is against the ROPV location. Sero Colorado.q
resented then by Maritza that they must halt con- law (Planning Territorial Or-
Boyce, turned up at Lar af- struction while the appeal dinance), in which it is only
ter the minister of Territorial of the citizens are being allowed a maximum of 600
Developments, Infrastruc- processed, particularly be- rooms and not 900.
ture and the Environment cause not at any moment
at that time turned in the has the government actu- At that time, Ms. Maritza
permit for the construction ally entered in dialogue Boyce has stated that the
of the hotel. This permit was with the citizens. construction plans do not
granted on May 28th, 2020 Lastly, the citizens have sig- comply with the reason-
and the citizens have sub- naled that they have once able insistence of “suc-
mitted their objections to again appealed to the cess”, and that the build-
the permit on the 21st of Court on April 19th, 2023. ing surpasses its maximum
October 2020. height, because there has