Caretaker State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops (right) and Statia Construction owner/contractor Jaime Lopes (left) removing barricades to officially open the first roundabout in St. Eustatius.
ST. EUSTATIUS--Visiting caretaker State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops officially opened the first roundabout in St. Eustatius on Monday, as well as the Road to Jeems and the Parallel Jeems Road.
Present at the official opening ceremony were Acting Government Commissioner Alida Francis; Economy, Nature and Infrastructure Director Anthony Reid; Statia Construction contractors Jaime Lopes and Marlon Murray, their employees and office staff; and invited guests.
Francis said the Statia government has worked very closely with the ministries in the Netherlands for the past several years. “We Statians can reap benefits of many projects that give our island the much-needed stimulus for economic development.”
Knops thanked and congratulated all involved with the project, which he called a “really big milestone” for the island.
“Three years ago, we said the infrastructure needed to be improved as soon as possible for safety reasons, but also for comfort of the residents and also for reasons of electricity management, et cetera,” Knops said.
He said he was proud and excited that this project has been completed in a short period of time and commended the contractor, the Statia government and private organisations for the improvement of Statia’s infrastructure.
“This first roundabout, I think it is an indication of what is expected to happen in the next few years. We have done work on more than four kilometres and another 37 is about to come in the next few years and we will continue to invest and improve roads.”
Knops said everyone who has used the new roads has experienced their comfort and “great” condition.
Because newer roads will urge some persons to drive their vehicles too fast, speed bumps were placed to discourage this.
Knops and contractor Lopes removed road barriers in signalling the official opening of the road. Each in a different car, they drove around the roundabout in celebratory fashion.
