Auxiliary government offices celebrate 65 years of serving Aruba.
ORANJESTAD - Recently, MFA Savaneta celebrated the 65 anniversary of Auxiliary government offices (Hulpbestuurskantoor - HBK).
During her speech, Prime Minister Evelyn Wever-Croes briefly discussed the background of HBK and its motivation.
The main reason for an Auxiliary government office was to bring service closer to the citizens so that the citizens could save time by having government services close to home. The first design of the HBK building was in 1956, and the public tender was on December 17, 1957. After two years of building, Aruba's first HBK in San Nicolas was formally opened on December 1, 1959. The HBK of San Nicolas brought relief to the inhabitants of San Nicolas and the main office in Playa since the large flow of people lessened.
The Public Library relocated into the same building as HBK San Nicolas in September 1959, and the tax office followed a month later. Savaneta finally got its HBK in December 1982, followed by Santa Cruz in 1983 and Paradera in 1997. The government improved, expanded, promoted, and made all government services more accessible in every district with the HBKs.
As HBK enters the digital age, it will digitize government procedures while considering the persons who lack access to computers or are not savvy in its use. There will be employees at HBKs to provide the assistance they need.