WILLEMSTAD - A new gas station at Malpais will not be established for the time being. The associations of gas station owners, Copda and Asogas, have successfully won a lawsuit against the government and St. Helena Gas Station.
The court has invalidated the granted establishment permit for the gas station at Malpais. The minister must now make a new decision on the permit application within four months.
According to the court, the minister had not provided clear reasoning for this approval. It was unclear whether the application had been evaluated based on the refusal grounds as outlined in the establishment regulations.
Furthermore, the minister was aware of the objections raised by the gas station owner associations Copda and Asogas against the establishment of the gas station at Malpais. The court ruled that the minister should have taken these objections into consideration during the evaluation.
The establishment permit did not specify whether the minister had adhered to the establishment policy. While references were made to advice that should have been considered in line with this policy, there was a lack of reasoning for the conclusions drawn from this advice. This led to the court's decision to invalidate the permit.
The minister must now make a new decision on the application, and this decision must be accompanied by a clear and substantiated rationale. It should indicate the conditions and refusal grounds against which the minister assessed the application.
Additionally, the minister must take into account the objections of the gas station owner associations, which pertain to the economic interests of existing gas stations within a 5-kilometer radius of the proposed gas station at Malpais.
These objections focus on maintaining the viability of the gas stations at Tera Kora and Juan Domingo, whose profit margins on gasoline are already limited. There is a concern that increased competition will lead to a decrease in their customer base.
Shopping Center
Previously, the involved parties had already filed a lawsuit to halt the construction of the gas station, but this ruling had gone against them.
Although the government had not yet issued construction and obstruction permits, the court ruled that the permits would not harm their economic interests. The vast majority of the construction project involves a shopping center, with only a small portion of the land allocated for the gas station.