LOCALNEWS – Tuesday afternoon Minister of Tourism and Public Health, Mr. Dangui Oduber presented the Port City project to all financial institutions from Aruba. Madame Prime Minister, Mrs. Evelyn Wever-Croes was also present alongside other colleagues, Minister Xiomara Maduro and Endy Croes. The Port City project will focus on the improvement of the general tourism product of Aruba, more specifically the cruise industry. Creating a new experience for our visitors as well as the local community.

The vision of this project is to develop a mix of commercial activity to serve the global tourism market objectively, to bring affluent tourists that wish to have a truly unique and local experience as its main objective.

It’s important to mention that a well-balanced development was put into consideration with this project. In all areas available a majority of it will be for the use of the public such as recreational parks, boardwalks, scenic roads, and open spaces for public use.

This magnificent project will be financed using local financial institutions and will be an investment from the private sector for about $500 million. Minister Oduber presented this project as a unique opportunity in life to invest. Port City is the largest project in the history of Aruba. The minister explained the model that Aruba Ports Authority will be using where APA will allocate these properties through a sublease. The developers that get a chance to take advantage of this sublease will have to pay 40% of the ground lease as a downpayment to secure the lot and the remaining 60% has to be paid for 60 years. With the revenue collected, APA will reinvest it in infrastructure, roads, landscaping, a boardwalk, and the maintenance of all of the above.

Minister Oduber once again committed to the Port City project to continue to give support to the tourism industry and will continue to create opportunities for economic growth and success for the whole local community. This will be an open process with transparency and upholding all the regulations of corporate good governance.
Finally, Minister Dangui Oduber thanked everyone at the Aruba Ports Authority N.V. for their hard work and dedication to this project, working with Port of Amsterdam International and key partners such as the Department of Infrastructure to make this project possible.

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