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Ingezonden | At Home in Curaçao? What a joke!

HomeMediaIngezonden | At Home in Curaçao? What a joke!
Ingezonden brief

Uw ingezonden brief in de Knipselkrant Curacao? Stuur uw brief voor 21:00 uur naar emailadres INGEZONDEN. Wij publiceren uw brief zonder deze in te korten. De redactie van de Knipselkrant Curacao is niet verantwoordelijk voor de inhoud. Ingezonden stukken die opruiende of dreigende taal bevatten worden door ons niet gepubliceerd.

Vandaag laten we Curacao Chronicle aan het woord.

It took us a few days to publish the article about At Home in Curaçao. At first, we did not want to because none of us believed in that project. But as a responsible news media, we decided today to publish it anyways and leave our own opinion aside.

Do not get us wrong. The project is great. There are other islands in the Caribbean implementing it with great success. But our beloved island Curaçao is not ready for such a thing yet. At all.

The reason we say that is because we know of several cases, including one of our own colleagues, where the services needed for this project to be a success are lacking. We do not want to criticize our island, but it is a simple truth.

One of our readers contacted us a few weeks ago indicating that they had purchased a home here on the island. They came to Curaçao last year December. They remained under quarantine for two weeks and then got out to do the things they need to do to live here. Things like getting a bank account, pay for aqualectra, and the internet. All this happened on December 12, 2020. Now we are in February and this family has not seen even one representative of the internet company. Not even a phone call. This family emailed the company, they did the chat online, was hung up on, called the 9424 every day, and still nothing. You read that right, NOTHING!

One of our colleagues at Curaçao Chronicle is from the U.S. She came here a few weeks ago. We took her to apply for internet service. The same company. It has been three weeks and still no internet connection at her house. This is how we want people to come and stay six months on the island and work? Work with what? These people need internet.

Another problem is the bank account. One of our readers also contacted us with this problem. They told us that of all the banks they have contacted here, only one bank offered to open an account for them. This is what our reader told us:

Apparently, the government is launching @athomeinCuracao. Check it out. What a joke. Just fill out an application, right? First it is probably the most expensive island to move to. I will be the first person to tell people how difficult it is to do anything. I did not even have a parking ticket. No debt. One credit card that we pay off monthly. We own our properties in the States. All worth well over 5 million dollars if we were to sell. All we wanted was a place to retire in a couple of years and we had the funds to do it. We loved the weather and the people. But although they said it would be a piece of cake since we were from the United States, they were so wrong. When I was trying to get a bank account, I contacted every bank and all but Vidanova said they were not taking new customers. And Vidanova didn’t approve it until we had our resident permit approved. I have never in my life heard of a bank refusing customers. It is no wonder there is poverty on the island when companies can get away with this. You want people to come and spend money, we need services. Like banks, electricity, and internet to do business. Beaches need cleaning up. This is a small island. It should work better.

And our reader is right. It is so frustrating for us as locals to have to read comments like these, but it is true. And now the government wants to introduce a new project that is doomed to fail. We do not want it to fail but we don’t see it any other way. Curaçao needs to improve on a lot of things. Both private and Public sectors have been talking about it for years. But when will it happen? When can we see changes and improvements?

Bron: Curacao Chronicle

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13 reacties

  1. I did apply for this as a foreign person wanting to be somewhere warm for more than 90 days. I probably was the first applicant.

    They got back to me last week with questions but I’m leaving now anyways because of the current situation.

    The internet is fast enough to work off of. I didn’t have much issues.

  2. @Liz, what do you know. I’ve had aUSA account with the Bank of America for years, as a Curaçao resident. No problem at all opening it.
    But here, it is difficult and for some residents impossible.

  3. Dezelfde gobiernu die van Flow een monopolie heeft gemaakt op het gebied van internet waar we nu allemaal de wrange vruchten van plukken. De afrekening van de verkoop van UTS heeft nog steeds niemand gezien.
    Ook bij onze ‘fair trade authority’ is het oorverdovend stil https://ftac.cw/melding-overname-uts/
    Welk advies hebben zij uitgebracht destijds en hoe is dit door onze minister van VVRP (Zita) gewogen bij de besluitvorming?

  4. @Knoek-koe:

    “de arrogantie van onze laagvliegers van politici/ ministers kent geen grenzen.”

    Gelijk heb je. Als het aan hun zou liggen zou het eiland in no time Haiti part deux worden. Sip on champagne in expensive cars en kinderen zien bedelen op de airport.

  5. @Knoek-koe:

    It’s truly a shame that people who are genuinely interested to settle on the island and thus contributing to it’s economy and society are confronted with the utter inability of the government to provide basic services.

    Dit terwijl Gobierno & Sons B.V. niet zal blikken, noch blozen om een pamflet online zetten om te investeren in de 1,000 cows in space program.

  6. @Bolivar, LOL.
    Dat krijg je als je een familiepartij minister als Steven martina, die alleen maar bezig is met het aansnijden van nieuwe projectjes, die geen van allen van de grond komen.

    Terwijl de voorwaarden voor het slagen van deze projectjes, betrouwbare diensten en overheid, infrastructuur niet geadresseerd worden.

    Eea omdat meneer zichzelf op de borstslaande entrepeneur dat niet kan.

  7. “Apparently, the government is launching @athomeinCuracao. Check it out. What a joke.”

    I checked it out at : https://athomeincuracao.com/nl/home-nl/

    It reads like a feel good pamphlet offering a service the government of Curaçao cannot provide and they’re fully aware of this. It’s blatant false advertising, plain and simple.

    In developed countries the entity involved with false advertising would face legal and financial consequences. On Curaçao it’s the government doing the false advertising, they will not hold themselves nor anyone involved responsible because the island has turned into a banana republic since it’s status aparte.

    The government has clearly shown to be incapable of carrying out their responsibilities time and time again. Hence the need for an entity from the Netherlands, the COHO, to lead the island to a better future with professional oversight, development and planning.

  8. Most countries don’t open bank accounts those people up north.
    Go and figure out why.

    But I do agree. Flow seems to be useless.
    I rent a few apartments on Curacao , which include internet and tv.
    I’ve started adding the following to the contracts: tenants are responsible for contacting the provider in case there are issues with internet or tv.
    Why ? Tenants started calling me like crazy when Flow took over. The quality suddenly went downhill.
    But what can I do if Flow doesn’t deliver ? Don’t call me bro, call Flow.

    Our government should have included a clause about the quality of internet when UTS was sold to Flow. They most probably forgot to do that.

  9. This government service employees on this island treat you like a third class citizen.

    They never respond to e-mails, or very late, don’t call back ,or inform you on a timely basis, and if you insist on better service and address this item directly, the respective clerk will give you a very shitty look!

  10. This island is a complete fail in everything especially since the so called “independence” which was an excuse for some local crooks to start corrupting the island more.
    There’s only one solution: bring it back under strict Dutch control and reintroduce common norms and values on school and in society (like cleaning up trash after yourself). If not, Curacao will be like a new Haiti in 10 years from now.
    I would never advice any US (or service demanding) tourist to come here with our current horrible service level. There are much better islands: Aruba, Barbados, Guadeloupe..

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