Concrete plan for the economic development of San Nicolas presented during the 2nd Forum on the Future of San Nicolas
During the second Forum on the Future of San Nicolas, Plan Dumfries 2030 was presented as a concrete path for the revitalization and economic development of San Nicolas. While the first forum primarily established why structural development is necessary, the second focused on implementation: who organizes it, who finances it, and how will the plan actually be delivered?
Nation Builder Suzette Dumfries presented an integrated development model that translates five years of research into development areas, projects, institutional responsibility, financing and implementation. The conversation is therefore shifting from vision to implementation architecture. “San Nicolas does not need yet another vision without an implementation mechanism. We need to know who is responsible, how projects are developed, how financing is organized, how private capital is attracted, and how development will actually create economic and social value. That structure is now on the table.” says Suzette Dumfries.
A major milestone is the establishment of Stichting Stadsontwikkeling Aruba. The foundation will play a central role in organizing, coordinating and overseeing the integrated development of San Nicolas. Stichting Stadsontwikkeling Aruba will also facilitate a financing structure through which public resources, European funding sources and contributions from development partners will be organized around a coherent project portfolio.
Entirely separate from this structure, a Regional Development Company (in Dutch: Regional Ontwikkelingsmaatschappij or ROM) is being developed as the investment vehicle for commercially viable projects capable of attracting private capital and capital from institutional investors. This creates two distinct tracks: Stichting Stadsontwikkeling Aruba for public, social and infrastructure development, and the ROM for commercial investment and economic area development. Investors have already expressed interest in participating in the investment vehicle.
Attorney Lincoln D. Gomez financially supported the establishment of Stichting Stadsontwikkeling Aruba and, with it, the institutional foundation for the implementation and financing architecture. “If we are serious about development, we cannot speak only about projects; we also have to help build the institutional foundation through which those projects
can actually be financed and delivered. That is why I supported the establishment of Stichting Stadsontwikkeling Aruba.”
Plan Dumfries 2030 is initially organized around two major development fronts. The first is the San Nicolas City Center, where culture, heritage, entrepreneurship and spatial development are approached as one economic ecosystem. Three instruments are central: further positioning San Nicolas as a Cultural District; spatial and legal anchoring through the ROP and ROPV; and development of a Business Improvement District (BID) for a defined commercial core area, through which businesses and local stakeholders can jointly contribute to public space, safety, marketing, events and stronger local economic activity.
The second development front is the refinery site. During the forum, Ruben Goedhoop of the Tijdelijke Werkorganisatie (TWO), who attended the forum together with Marcelle van Valkenburg and Marc Bollen of the HART project, explained HART – Herinrichting Arubaans Raffinaderij Terrein. HART maps the current condition, constraints and possible development directions of the site. HART and Plan Dumfries 2030 have distinct but complementary roles: HART provides the factual and technical basis, while Plan Dumfries 2030 places the site within the broader economic, spatial and social development of San Nicolas.
Investors, members of Aruba’s Chinese community and the full board of the San Nicolas Bar Association were also represented at the forum, among many key players and institutions. Their presence underlined that the next phase cannot be carried by government and financiers alone; it also requires the communities and organizations that helped build San Nicolas and remain active in the city today.
The presentation of Plan Dumfries 2030 does not conclude the process. The next phase will focus on co-creation, institutional alignment, project prioritization and concrete agreements on financing and implementation. The core building blocks are now visible: an implementation structure, two financial tracks, two development fronts and a growing coalition of public, private and civil-society partners. The task now moves from planning to institutional anchoring and actual implementation.
