WILLEMSTAD – The View Marina will operate the new drawbridge at Koredor near Zakitó, but the rules governing vessel access to the lagoon and the exact authority the marina will have over the area have not yet been finalized.
Project developer Adam Kiolle confirmed that employees of The View Marina will be responsible for operating and managing the bridge. However, the government has yet to determine the final management structure for the lagoon, including which public entity will oversee the water and what rights will be granted to the marina.
The issue has drawn attention following concerns raised by Movimentu Save Zakitó, which fears that control over public areas surrounding the lagoon could gradually shift into private hands.
Kiolle rejects the suggestion that the lagoon is being privatized. According to him, the Country of Curaçao will remain the owner and legal rights holder of the water parcels where the marina is being developed.
The intention, he said, is for the government to place the usage or property rights for the inner water area under a public management organization that has yet to be designated. This could be a government-owned company or another public entity.
That organization could subsequently grant usage rights to The View Marina B.V.
However, important details remain unresolved. It has not yet been determined which public organization will manage the lagoon, what rights will be transferred to The View Marina, or what conditions will be attached to those rights.
The operating policy for the drawbridge also remains to be established.
The View Marina is considering keeping the bridge closed to marine traffic as much as possible during busy periods when large numbers of people are walking or running along Koredor. According to Kiolle, a complete bridge operation — opening the bridge, allowing a vessel to pass and closing it again — takes approximately five minutes.
It also remains unclear which authority will formally decide when vessels may enter or leave the lagoon and who will supervise the marina's operation of the bridge.
Kiolle said Customs, the Coast Guard and police will retain their existing border-control and law-enforcement powers, as they do at other ports. Those responsibilities, however, are separate from the still-to-be-established rules governing daily bridge operations and access to the lagoon.
The unresolved arrangements mean that it is not yet possible to determine precisely how much authority The View Marina will ultimately have over access to the Zakitó lagoon.