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local Thursday 8 sepTember 2022
Opening for Port City Aruba project announced officially

Tuesday morning, prime velop this whole area, and
minister of Aruba, Evelyn it will include a boardwalk
Wever-Croes together with in the future which will con-
minister of Tourism, Dan- nect the cruise terminal
gui Oduber and director of with Bushiri Beach. The ex-
Aruba Ports Authority N.V. perience of water and park
(APA), Mark Figaroa an- must be central in the de-
nounced the opening of sign, taking into account
the Port City Aruba project, sustainability and circular
that according to them, will economy.
benefit the local commu-
nity with around three thou- Of the 187,000 square me-
sand jobs. ters available in the area
for development, only 43
The prime minister ex- percent will actually be
pressed that the govern- developed into a Boutique
ment is very happy to an- Hotel, Condos, housing,
nounce this project, which retail and food and bev-
they consider important for erage; the rest will be des-
Aruba. “An announcement with all stakeholders on the tined to public areas with
with an extremely large island to think, after market lots of vegetation.
economic impact for our consultations to see where
country, an impact which the appetite is to see the The whole project will take
will have positive effects for development that is neces- about 15 to 20 years, and
our entire community”, she sary for Aruba for the area right now they will begin
said of Port City. with the first phase, where
40 percent of the project
On the path to economic According to minister Odu- needs to be paid by the
recovery, where Aruba ber, it was back in 2017 developer who wins the
has been overcoming the when the first Wever-Croes public tender, and the in-
challenges left behind by cabinet put this project as come generated will be in-
the Covid-19 pandemic, a priority, because they to the Country of Aruba for a public tender, which vested by APA in the area.
it can be anticipated that knew what the impact had to be transferred to they hope will take place
by the end of this year and would be on the economy, Aruba Ports Authority N.V., this year. The project is an investment
beginning of 2023, Aruba’s labor and public finances. which had to prepare the of almost one billion florins
economy can reach the In 2018 they presented the parcel and the business They took into consider- from the public sector, and
level of tourism from before concept of the project to plan in order to measure ation what is important in the income generated
the pandemic, and financ- the Council of Ministers the economic and finan- the first phase, which will be will be invested back into
es can achieve a surplus and received the approval cial impact for APA, and from Bushiri to the round- maintenance. When the
once more, like before the to continue developing the had to prepare a design about by Wendy’s on L. G. project is operational, it will
pandemic, the premier as- area. At the start of the of what the project would Smith Boulevard. They con- have an economic contri-
sured. She said the key to second Wever-Croes cabi- become. sider that this project must bution of around 4.5 per-
achieve this an more is the net in coalition with Raiz become a ‘MIX’, where cent to Aruba’s economy,
diversifying of the econom- party, taking into consid- After this, they held market most of the area that is to and per year, it is expected
ic pillar, which is tourism, eration the new coalition consultations in order to ex- be developed will be des- to generate 40 million flo-
and for this, this project has partner, and together with plore the market and see if tined for public areas that rins for the government.
been in preparation for a APA they had a presenta- the future of the develop- can be used by the com- The businessplan when the
long time, since 1995. project is completed con-
tion of the project in order ment matched the project munity. For this reason, they
to receive approval of the in the area. Finally, they set thought of seven elements: tains three thousand jobs,
Minister of Tourism, Dangui new constellation of Coun- up a new real estate com- the first is that Port City has according to minister Odu-
Oduber expressed that the cil of Ministers, in order to pany, under APA, to man- to serve as a gateway, the ber.
process to begin a public continue the work that be- age this project. first impression when tour-
tender for this project will gan in 2017. ists arrive at the port. It must Director of APA, Mark Figa-
start this year, and accord- Right now they are in the also serve as a park where roa commented that cur-
ing to their plans, the proj- To do this, they implement- final phase, where they the tourists and the locals rently they are in a modern-
ect itself will begin in the ed a project team where have begun preparing all meet each other. This is a ization process, changing
second trimester of 2023. “It all the land that belonged the necessary documents unique opportunity to de- the structure from an op-
is a project that is meant to erational to a commercial
be different than all other company, and right now,
projects known in Aruba”, they depend mainly on in-
he said. come from cruise tourism
and shipping. “These are
The Port City project is to the only two main sources
create a beautiful area of income on which APA
with high value, that is at- depends, and based on
tractive for development this, we are looking for
by the sea, and this is the ways to begin diversifying
reason, according to the and creating other sources
minister, why for many of income for APA. I believe
years this and other gov- that Port City is one of the
ernments, during the last projects that will help us
two decades, sat together reach our goals”, he said.q