The signing of an eagerly-awaited US $15 million bridge loan for Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) made available by the Netherlands was accompanied by some good news (see Wednesday edition). The emergency advance of $5 million government provided to cover the end-of-January salaries and other urgent bills must no longer be paid back and won’t be deducted from the $15 million as originally intended.
Instead, this money will be refunded to St. Maarten when the country receives the next tranche of its own liquidity support. It was also explained that the bridge loan is to be used for operational expenses, not reconstruction of the terminal.
The latter will be done with $100 million in financing, half a grant from the Dutch-sponsored Trust Fund managed by the World Bank and the other half a soft loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to government, which will in turn lend the money to PJIA. The idea is to have the airport back at full capacity and functionality by December 2020, reported the St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) last month after meeting with recently-appointed CEO Brian Mingo.
SHTA requested that improvements continue gradually and there not be “just one step” at that time. The jetways and check-in area are to have top priority.
But there is another concern. The rebuilding to be executed with the $100 million will not to include the long-desired US customs and immigration pre-clearance facility.
Coincidentally, it’s reported in today’s paper that Parliament discussed the latter with American officials in a closed-door session on Wednesday, where an update was given on the draft bilateral agreement to make such possible. Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Stuart Johnson called it “a critical component of the economic revitalisation plan for my ministry.”
Nevertheless, SHTA stated in February that it had discussed the issue and limited resources to include this in the first phase of the project with Mingo, stressing the need to ensure the return on investment, “as it is an expensive addition to the service offering, which may or may not increase the St. Maarten visitor satisfaction for the annually recurring cost.” The private sector organisation went onto say it “believes that our airport should be our gateway and that it is not necessarily in the island’s best interest to move visitors on and off it as quickly as possible, but to facilitate long and enjoyable visits.”
However, one should keep in mind that a faster processing of US-bound passengers could help alleviate congestion and thus create space to attract more flights. It may also make travelling to and from the destination a bit more attractive.
Perhaps part of the solution could be not to create an entirely new accommodation for the pre-clearance, but simply separate and secure a section of the existing terminal for this purpose. After all, the share of US carriers in the current airlift is so large that the whole terminal would hardly be needed for the remaining passengers.
If in any way possible, efforts should continue to somehow still make the pre-clearance happen. To find out if it’s worth the trouble, just ask Aruba.
