Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) Brian Mingo speaks out in today’s paper. He calls any efforts to secure a loan on the open market for the terminal’s reconstruction instead of accepting financing from the Dutch-sponsored Trust Fund (via country St. Maarten) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) “futile,” with little advantage and serving only to delay the project.
And the latter is a big problem, because the local tourism economy can never completely recover until the island’s main gateway is fully restored. While acknowledging that this is in the shareholder’s hands, Mingo is obviously assuming his responsibility as the person in charge of management to stress the urgency involved.
According to him, if funding is not available by December 1 the government-owned company will no longer be able to meet its commitments, with all possible consequences. The existing temporary facilities were good enough for arrivals to rebound to 71 per cent of pre-Hurricane Irma levels in 2016, but any significant further growth may prove difficult at best to realise with the current space and other limitations.
In the end all involved, including the bondholders that invested in the 2012 US $145 million indenture for capital improvements and to pay off the previous 2005 debt, stand to benefit from a speedy resolution of this matter so the work can finally begin for PJIA to regain its position as one of the leading airports in the region. Nothing less will do.
