THE HAGUE--The complaint of St. Maarten Finance Minister Mike Ferrier in Thursday’s edition of the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf that the local government hasn’t received any funds as yet for the reconstruction didn’t go unnoticed in The Hague.
Having to comply with strict regulations of the World Bank, which manages the St. Maarten Reconstruction Trust Fund, for which the Dutch government has reserved 470 million euros (about US $ 580 million), is no easy task, stated a disappointed Ferrier in the article.
“We have our hands full to rebuild St. Maarten and at the same time we have to comply with the strict norms of the World Bank. We have to do everything with a small group of people. In the Netherlands they say: how come you are not ready yet, why don’t you make use of the funds? We have not been able to touch the money,” the Minister told De Telegraaf. So far, only relief organisations have been able to secure funds.
Ferrier explained that the local government was still trying to figure out the procedures of the World Bank regarding how to access the funds. “We are very thankful for the Dutch contribution. But the money was offered in November and we still don’t have access to it. There is nothing wrong with strict norms, but it takes a lot of time. We don’t know the World Bank and the World Bank doesn’t know us. The frustration is very big here.”
Members of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament Joba van den Berg of the Christian Democratic Party CDA and André Bosman of the liberal democratic VVD party inquired about Ferrier’s statement in De Telegraaf during a general debate with State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops on Thursday.
The Members of Parliament (MPs) asked whether what was stated in the article that “not one euro” had gone to the St. Maarten government was correct. Van den Berg and Bosman said that they were “very surprised” by the content of the newspaper article.
The State Secretary said that he too was very surprised about the article. “We cannot place this story. We were not very happy with Ferrier’s comments. But in our contacts with Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin, she made very clear that St. Maarten is very thankful for the assistance from the Netherlands,” he said.
Knops denied that the Dutch government hasn’t contributed since Hurricane Irma devastated the island early September last year. He noted that 55 million euros was spent in emergency assistance, mostly provided by Defence and the Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations BZK.
Furthermore, the Netherlands has supplied liquidity support for the St. Maarten government for an amount of 22.8 million euros. Also, 7 million euros was paid for several early recovery projects, and another 44 million euros has been made available for projects outside the World Bank.
The State Secretary commented on the time that it has been taking to get things off the ground. “An overnight fix is not possible with the size of the damage that this hurricane created.” He said that the triage method was used whereby the most urgent cases and vulnerable groups in society were assisted first.
Knops expressed appreciation for the work that has been done so far on the island. “I see much improvement every time when I return, but it is simply not possible to tackle everything at once because of the size of the damage.” He remarked that the St. Maarten government too had an active role to play in the reconstruction.
The State Secretary also addressed the questions of MP Bosman about the plan of approach for the Pointe Blanche prison, the deployment of Dutch prison personnel and the bad state of the penitentiary.
Knops noted that indeed the prison building was in very bad shape. “It is barely standing.” Reconstructing the prison will be a very costly affair and the Netherlands is not willing to carry the complete costs of this project as part of the Reconstruction Trust Fund. There is a possibility to assist with the funding of the additional costs to make the new prison hurricane-proof.
The State Secretary confirmed that Dutch prison personnel will remain until August 1. “But this cannot continue because it costs a lot of money, and besides it is a responsibility of the country St. Maarten.” He said the Netherlands had offered expertise to draft an action plan for the prison before July 1.
