A request by St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMDHF) to obtain US $45 million from the Dutch-sponsored Trust Fund managed by the World Bank (see Thursday paper) via government is most interesting. It was announced by Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI Christopher Wever during Wednesday’s Parliament meeting on the status of repairs to public homes and facilities managed by the foundation.
The money is to fix 773 existing rental units and build an additional 1,000. Following approval by the Council of Ministers the petition would first go to the National Recovery Programme Bureau (NRPB) and then to the fund’s steering committee for a final decision. With more than 7,000 persons on a waiting list this certainly seems like a worthwhile initiative.
Several elected representatives questioned SMDHF’s functioning and asked about other finances. They learned that $994,000 received in insurance proceeds was mainly spent on emergency repairs to roofs and the office ($102,000).
A grant agreement had been signed with the World Bank for a $5.3-million grant in October 2018, but payment is still pending. This was reportedly done through third-party stakeholders, because three earlier funding requests sent to government remained unanswered, presumably due to “political interference.”
But management was also forced to admit that its most recent financial report and budget had been submitted to the VROMI Ministry in 2017.There is thus room for administrative improvement, which may factor in the delay and could be a consideration regarding the new grant request.
Nevertheless, with more than half a billion US dollars made available in the Trust Fund of which a large part has not yet been earmarked, this could be the kind of project that really makes a difference in the dire social reality on the ground as the island continues to bounce back from the onslaught of Hurricane Irma. Measures to safeguard the investment could always be taken by – for example – adding experts to the foundation’s team as was done with someone from Schiphol Group at Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA).
The lack of affordable living accommodations is a huge problem that has a very negative impact on the fabric of society and ultimately its wellbeing. If the money is there, let’s also try to use it.
