Making use of the 470-million-euro Trust Fund provided by the Netherlands to rebuild St. Maarten is taking longer than many would like, among them Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin herself. However, in today’s paper she at least gives some indication of the preparations taking place and what may be expected in the short term.
The first tranche of 122 million euros transferred by the Dutch Government will go to projects that address the most urgent needs of the people and get the country ready for the peak of the hurricane season. One with a US $55 million budget regards repairs to 500 roofs of vulnerable groups, the police and fire stations, ambulances, hurricane shelters, the Meteorological Office, schools, electricity and trenching lines, water storage tanks and streetlights.
Another, estimated at about $19 million, offers income support and targeted skills training for un- and underemployed persons, starting with the existing hospitality programme (700 participants) and expanding it to different sectors (2,600). A third, for which $15 million has been budgeted, concerns the cleaning up of remaining debris through the “cash for work” programme, assistance with solid waste management including the Irma (“baby”) dump and preventing fires there as well as at the sanitary landfill (‘big dump”), in addition to clearing boat wrecks.
The hope is that the first emergency projects can start in June, before the months of August and September when tropical weather systems approaching the region tend to be prevalent. These initiatives alone are obviously not going to solve all the huge current socioeconomic and financial problems, but they should certainly help give a welcome push in the right direction.
