THE HAGUE – The failure to establish a professional government real estate department in Curaçao could jeopardize savings already achieved on government accommodation and leave structural problems surrounding maintenance unresolved, according to an evaluation by the Netherlands' Central Government Real Estate Agency.
The warning takes on greater significance following the decision by the Temporary Work Organization (TWO) to end its financing and cooperation for the proposed department after the ministries involved failed to agree on its organizational structure.
The Netherlands has already spent €533,000 through TWO on the initiative.
The project was intended to fundamentally improve how Curaçao manages government-owned and rented properties.
Instead of individual decisions being made without an overarching real estate strategy, the proposed department was expected to assess whether renting, purchasing or using existing government property represented the most financially attractive option.
Eventually, the organization was also expected to assume a coordinating role in the maintenance of school buildings.
The initiative dates back several years. In 2023, the Ministry of Traffic, Transport and Urban Planning appointed a project manager, who worked with the Netherlands' Central Government Real Estate Agency on an analysis of the existing organization and preparation of an organizational plan and revised Plan of Approach.
Agreement on the plan was reached in September 2024.
Shortly afterward, however, progress stalled.
According to an evaluation by the Dutch government real estate agency, work appears to have stopped following a Gateway Review conducted on September 20, 2024. Previously involved advisers received no further assignment, while evaluators could not establish whether important positions within the planned organization had subsequently been filled.
Despite the lack of progress, Dutch funding continued into 2025.
TWO's annual reports show that €224,000 was spent on establishing the department in 2024, together with €85,000 for the Gateway Review. Another €224,000 was provided in 2025, bringing the total to €533,000.
The Dutch real estate agency nevertheless continued to stress the importance of completing the reform.
In August last year, it urged Curaçao to actually establish the department and arrange structural financing for property management and maintenance. According to the evaluation, a professional real estate organization was necessary to preserve savings already achieved in government accommodation.
Without such an organization, those results had not yet been structurally secured.
There appeared to be renewed progress in February 2026 when TWO reported that an alternative management structure had been selected.
Under that approach, real estate strategy and central direction would remain centralized, while some operational management activities could be performed elsewhere within government depending on the process involved.
A project leader was supposed to revise the existing Plan of Approach accordingly.
By May, that solution had also stalled.
The latest implementation agenda states that the ministries involved failed to reach the necessary agreements within the established timeframe. TWO subsequently decided to end both financing and cooperation for this component.
The consequences could extend beyond the failed establishment of another government department.
Government real estate represents a continuing expense through rent, maintenance, renovation and the operation of public buildings. Without centralized expertise, the government may have greater difficulty determining whether properties should be rented, purchased, renovated, sold or more efficiently used.
The issue also affects school infrastructure because the planned organization was eventually expected to coordinate maintenance of school buildings.
The project's deadline has now been moved to the fourth quarter of 2030.
What remains unclear is how Curaçao intends to reach that target without TWO financing, which government entity will take responsibility for completing the reform, and how the government intends to structurally finance property management and maintenance.
There is also no clear public accounting yet of what concrete and lasting results were obtained from the €533,000 already spent.
After years of preparation, multiple plans, external assistance and more than half a million euros in Dutch funding, Curaçao therefore remains without the professional government real estate organization the project was intended to create.