WILLEMSTAD – Agustin Diaz Jr., director of CDM Holding, has been given the leading operational role in Curaçao’s five-year program to redevelop Buskabaai and surrounding industrial areas as part of a broader maritime economic zone.
Under a national decree signed on April 24, Diaz will chair the working group of the newly established Programmatische Maritieme Tafel Buskabaai gebied. The public-private organization will operate for 60 months.
His appointment effectively makes him the operational coordinator of a development program involving several of Curaçao’s most important government-owned industrial and maritime companies.
Buskabaai NV, headed by Ramses Martina, will participate in the working group, together with 2BAYS Curaçao, where Patrick Newton serves as CEO and Sander Rijsdijk as Chief Development Officer.
Curaçao Ports Authority, headed by CEO Humberto de Castro, will also be represented, along with two companies affiliated with the Curaçao Maritime Association. Representatives of the Ministries of Economic Development, General Affairs, Traffic, Transport and Urban Planning, and Health, Environment and Nature will participate as well.
The working group will coordinate studies and development plans for Buskabaai, including the potential reopening of the bay, reconstruction of the asphalt lake area and redevelopment of surrounding industrial properties.
It will also be responsible for identifying potential investors and projects and promoting cooperation between government entities and the private sector.
Political supervision rests with a four-member ministerial steering committee chaired by Economic Development Minister Roderick Middelhof and including Prime Minister Gilmar Pisas, VVRP Minister Charles Cooper and GMN Minister Tyron Boekhoudt.
The working group’s secretariat will be placed with Blue Harbour City Curaçao, an organization founded by Signalda Vrutaal and Peter Martens. Vrutaal is also identified as its director.
The secretariat will organize meetings, prepare policy and progress documents, coordinate studies and business cases and track the progress of individual projects.
The decree also places restrictions on the publication of documents generated by or on behalf of the working group. Individual members may not automatically disclose notes, meeting reports and other documents. Exceptions can be made with authorization from the chairman.
The confidentiality provision means that while government and private-sector representatives will cooperate directly on the redevelopment of Buskabaai, not all documents produced during that process will necessarily become publicly available.
With Diaz responsible for the operational coordination and Middelhof heading political oversight, Curaçao has now created a fixed chain of responsibility for a project expected to help determine the future of an important part of the Schottegat industrial area.