MP Endy Croes gave a summary of the recent Public Meeting where Parliament handled the 2026 DOW budget. During the debate, Minister Baba Herdé appeared quite tired and failed to provide the necessary information. Nevertheless, the MEP Faction persisted in obtaining answers from the minister to properly fulfill their responsibility of government oversight.
DOW Budget for 2026 The total budget for DOW for the year 2026 is a sum of 52 million florins. This fund is divided into the following categories:
17 million florins: Allocated for personnel costs, including the employer’s contribution (werkgeversbijdrage).
35 million florins: Allocated for goods and services (goederen en diensten).
A major point of contention was the destination of the 18 million florins that the previous government (MEP) had budgeted for road maintenance and construction. The MEP Faction confronted Minister Herdé on two occasions regarding what happened to these 18 million florins, but the minister could not provide a clear answer. Incredibly, Minister Herdé claimed there were no plans for this and denied that the amount even existed in the budget.
Minister did NOT read his own documents MP Croes had to correct Minister Herdé on the floor of Parliament using the very documents the Minister himself sent on February 20, 2026. In the Explanatory Memorandum (Memorie van Toelichting, Page 15) and the DOW Master Plan, it clearly states: “At the end of 2024, via the autumn memorandum, an amount of 18 million was reserved for the realization of converting existing dirt roads to asphalt roads and maintaining existing asphalt roads, in line with the DOW Master Plan.” Therefore, in the law and the documents the Minister himself sent to Parliament, the 18 million is confirmed.
An 18 million cut on the first day of government On March 28, 2025, the AVP-Futuro government was sworn in, and that same day they came to Parliament to handle changes to the 2025 budget. That day, under instructions from Minister Geoffrey (Futuro), the “new” Members of Parliament—without reading their documents—voted to cut:
18 million florins from the DOW budget
20 million florins from FCCA
6 million florins from Justice
3 million florins from foundation subsidy funds
3 million florins from Education
Croes laments that after more than 400 days of the AVP-Futuro administration, not a single florin has been invested in our roads. “Aruba deserves better!”