Reassurance provided in today’s paper that reconstruction of the airport will continue as planned is most welcome. After all, when reports of intentions to fire Princess Juliana International Airport operating company PJIAE chief executive officer (CEO) Brian Mingo first surfaced, the World Bank as administrator of the Dutch-sponsored Trust Fund covering about half the cost had warned that changes to management and possibly the supervisory board of PJIAE could jeopardise the involvement of Royal Schiphol Group and thereby the project.
Airport holding company PJIAH went ahead and sent Mingo home. Government as sole shareholder now says it intends to review procedures followed to ensure compliance with corporate governance rules, but that the dismissal will have “no bearing” on agreements regarding the terminal rebuilding process.
PJIAE must contractually inform the World Bank and the European Investment Bank (EIB) that provided the other half of the financing about the CEO’s termination and his replacement. However, a meeting held last week of PJIAH’s management and supervisory board with officials of the Dutch Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations BZK concerning the agreement with Schiphol Group that expires per August 1 may indicate that no major problems are to be expected.
Hopefully, that is indeed the case, because more than 3½ years after it was badly damaged by the hurricanes of September 2017, St. Maarten/St. Martin has awaited complete rehabilitation of the island’s main gateway long enough. Reviving the tourism economy following the devastating impact of an unprecedented pandemic lasting more than 12 months already will not be easy, and the prospect of a fully restored airport soonest remains an indispensable ingredient to those efforts.
