WILLEMSTAD – PAR parliamentarian Shaheen Elhage is demanding detailed information from Traffic, Transport and Urban Planning Minister Charles Cooper about road projects, affordable housing, public transportation and other infrastructure investments promised under Curaçao’s 2026 budget.
Elhage says that while several road contracts were awarded during the first half of the year, signing contracts is not the same as completing projects and delivering visible improvements to the population.
The Ministry of Traffic, Transport and Urban Planning (VVRP) identified several priorities for 2026, including improving transportation by land, sea and air, preparing Curaçao for climate change and the energy transition, improving spatial planning, developing neighborhoods, constructing additional housing and strengthening enforcement.
At the same time, the ministry acknowledged significant challenges, including shortages of experienced personnel, insufficient funding for road maintenance, problems with public transportation, a shortage of land and affordable housing, illegal construction and a large backlog in document processing.
Elhage is now asking Cooper to provide a project-by-project account of road works undertaken during the first half of 2026.
For each project, he wants the government to disclose the contract value, contractor, procurement method, amount already paid, progress, expected completion date and any quality problems identified. He also wants to know whether penalties have been imposed on contractors that failed to comply with contractual requirements.
The parliamentarian is also questioning how much of VVRP’s investment budget was actually spent by June 30, as opposed to funds that were only administratively committed.
Public transportation is another major concern.
Elhage wants to know when Curaçao can expect a structural reform of its public transportation system, including new legislation, improved routes and schedules, agreements involving public bus company ABC and stronger supervision of buses and other forms of passenger transportation.
He also questions why funding for electric buses was unavailable in the 2026 budget despite the government identifying energy transition and modern transportation as priorities.
Housing is also included in the parliamentary questions.
On June 24, housing foundation FKP received ANG 2.5 million for maintenance of homes. Elhage wants to know how many FKP homes were repaired during the first six months of the year, where those properties are located and how much was spent on each home.
The parliamentarian is additionally seeking answers about the government’s development vision for Punda and Otrobanda. According to the document, the vision was approved with a commitment to produce an implementation plan within three months. By June 30, Elhage said there was still no publicly available plan detailing financing, implementation responsibilities and starting dates.
Illegal construction and unauthorized occupation of government land are another concern. The document states that approximately 80 percent of requests submitted to Domeinbeheer involve attempts to legalize land use that had already occurred without authorization.
Elhage argues that this suggests enforcement frequently takes place only after an illegal situation has already developed instead of preventing it.
He wants the government to disclose how many cases of illegal construction and land occupation were identified, how many enforcement measures were ordered and implemented, and how many illegal situations were eventually legalized.
Elhage is also asking Cooper to identify which VVRP projects can realistically be completed during the second half of 2026 and which may have to be postponed or reduced because of limited implementation capacity.