WILLEMSTAD – The cleanup of Curaçao's Asfaltmeer (Asphalt Lake) and the maritime redevelopment of Buskabaai are separate projects with different organizations responsible for each initiative, according to Agustin Diaz Jr. of CDM Holding.
The clarification comes amid ongoing discussions about the future of the industrial area and concerns that development of Buskabaai would have to wait until the Asphalt Lake had been completely remediated.
Diaz said that is not the case.
The cleanup of the Asphalt Lake is managed by Buskabaai N.V., while the cleanup, environmental restoration, access to the sea and broader maritime development of Buskabaai fall under the Programmatic Maritime Platform for the Buskabaai Area.
Although the two projects are connected geographically, they operate under separate planning schedules and management structures.
The platform is coordinating studies into contamination within the bay itself, environmental restoration, future maritime access and economic development. Meanwhile, Buskabaai N.V. continues its own work on recovering and cleaning the Asphalt Lake.
According to Diaz, the projects can largely proceed alongside one another rather than one waiting for the other to be completed.
This also means that earlier suggestions that approximately 42 hectares of the Asphalt Lake would first need to be fully remediated before Buskabaai could be developed are no longer accurate.
Each project has its own timeline, responsibilities and objectives, although they do intersect at certain points during implementation.