Concerns regarding sewer capacity, drainage, infrastructure, traffic flow, disruption for pupils and accessibility of schools, and protection of nature and biodiversity.
WILLEMSTAD - On Friday 24 April 2026, Fundashon Julianadorp, together with 38 individual residents and property owners from the neighbourhood, filed an objection (bezwaarschrift) with the Ministry of Traffic, Transport and Spatial Planning (VVRP). The objection concerns building permit 121/2025 for the construction of 25 dwellings on the site at Parkweg (cadastral MB105/2025).
A broadly supported concern
The objection has been co-signed by 38 individual residents and owners from Julianadorp. They are concerned that their interests — as residents of the neighbourhood — have not been adequately weighed in the decision-making. The concerns fall into five categories:
• Sewer capacity and hygiene — the capacity of the existing neighbourhood sewer system and the sanitary impact of each additional construction;
• Drainage and flooding risk — water discharge in an area designated as a water-collection area (watervanggebied);
• Cumulative development pressure — increased development pressure (proposed neighbourhood densification of 20%) leads to a disproportionate burden on the infrastructure, on traffic flow, and on emergency-services access in a neighbourhood with only three access roads;
• Disruption for (pupils at) schools — besides accessibility of the various schools, there are concerns about the impact of construction disruption on pupils at the schools, in particular Skol Myrna Dovale, a school where children with special educational needs are taught and which is located directly adjacent to the construction project;
• Protection of nature and biodiversity — concerns about the impact on the natural environment and the protection of native and endangered species in and around the construction site.
Request for transparency
Where a building permit is approved on Curaçao, only the file number is published. The content of the building permit is not published. This means that an interested party must first file a request with VVRP to obtain access to the file, but practice shows that access is often not granted — or only granted after the objection period has expired. Human Rights Defense Curaçao (HRDC) drew attention to this structural practice in the Antilliaans Dagblad of 19 April 2026, warning that it engages the right to respect for private life (art. 8 ECHR) and the right to an effective remedy (art. 13 ECHR).
For interested parties in Julianadorp it has likewise not been possible, before the objection period expired, to gain insight into the decision-making process, the balancing of interests undertaken, or the conditions attached to the permit granted. The Fundashon has therefore expressly reserved the right to supplement the grounds of its objection once access is provided.
Statement by the chair
“We are not against development, but we would like to see that it takes place in an open and transparent manner so that a proper balancing of interests is safeguarded. A project developer can inform the residents of the neighbourhood, via Fundashon Julianadorp, of the plans so that residents’ interests can be made known in good time and taken into account in the balancing of interests.
At this moment, this unfortunately does not happen in practice and residents are confronted after the fact with a building permit approved by VVRP, the content of which is difficult to ascertain because the permit itself is not published. This makes it difficult for residents to file an objection and stands in tension with the right to respect for the home and private life, as well as the right to an effective remedy.
That 38 individual residents have signed this objection alongside the Fundashon shows that this is a broadly supported concern.” — A.B.J. Luidens, chair, Fundashon Julianadorp.