Bonaire has an increasing number of initiatives to develop the island in a sustainable fashion. In order to stimulate these initiatives, law firm VANEPS organized a seminar on forms of cooperation in sustainable projects. Under the direction of lawyer Tom Peeters, who runs the Bonaire office of the firm, attendants exchanged ideas about the various possibilities in an interactive fashion. Peeters specializes in real estate and project development, and knows the tricks of this subject-matter.
The well-attended breakfast seminar took place on Tuesday, November 4, 2014. The cooperative was the focus on this occasion. This type of enterprise is wrongly still hardly used, according to Peeters. In the complex playing field of sustainable projects, with various development phases and interests of different stakeholders, this is the most practical instrument, according to the lawyer.
The public consisted of project managers, government officials, bankers, notaries, and other direct stakeholders. Their enthusiasm increased based on examples from the Netherlands and the Caribbean. Peeters made them realize that public and private parties can work together in a flexible fashion in projects varying from agriculture to wind and solar energy, cattle farming, and wastewater. Types of enterprises such as the NV (limited liability company), BV (private limited company), foundation, and association were compared, but during the balancing the somewhat less familiar cooperative each time appears to be very appealing. The cooperative is pre-eminently suitable for bringing stakeholders with different interests together and provides a flexible, low-threshold, and easy to manage platform for cooperation.
The largest regional law firm simultaneously announced an additional cycle of classes on real estate, which will begin on December 2. The first meeting will deal with transparent acquisition and tendering.
The SXM Island Time, SMN News and Notisia 360 reported about the seminar on their websites.
