Confirmation by Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Minister Ludmila de Weever in Parliament that Government is committed to the current airport terminal rebuilding plans with US $50 million each from the Dutch-sponsored Trust Fund managed by the World Bank and the European Investment Bank (EIB) must have been reassuring to many. She did mention other loan offers made and why those were not chosen instead.
Attempting to compare these options remains tricky because they involve differing amounts and conditions also regarding the existing bondholders from the 2012 US $132 million “major improvements” to handle more traffic. Mind you, that was only eight years after the brand-new Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) opened in 2004.
Probably important to most people would be preventing the project possibly suffering yet further delay because of a change in financing scheme, with contracting for the construction job now not scheduled until July, although the latest reported completion target was still March 2023.
It has been a long almost 3½ years since the hurricanes of September 2017 left the island’s main gateway extensively damaged and only partially usable. The complaints of airline handlers over the prospect of having their offices in shipping containers for –according to them – another three years (see related story) are therefore completely understandable and should be given the necessary attention, perhaps even by deploying pavilions used as provisional accommodations earlier.
People including travellers – often knowing what happened – and persons working there have accepted the makeshift facility and inconvenience it brings as a temporary necessity, but are really looking forward to the terminal being fully restored and able to deliver a service that is back up to par. They just want to see it get done.
