State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen. (File photo)
THE HAGUE--St. Maarten’s reconstruction trajectory is currently on track, Dutch State Secretary for Kingdom Relations and Digitisation Alexandra van Huffelen recently informed the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament.
The state secretary said this in her written reply to a question of Member of Parliament (MP) Roelien Kamminga, who during last week’s handling of the 2023 budget asked about the progress of the efforts to reconstruct St. Maarten after the 2017 Hurricane Irma, with Dutch funding, in particular the airport, prison and dump, which Kamminga referred to as slow-moving projects.
“I can report to you that St. Maarten’s reconstruction is in full execution and is on track. According to the World Bank, the disbursement from the Trust Fund portfolio in St. Maarten is 22% faster than similar programmes for small-island states in the Caribbean region,” stated Van Huffelen.
As for the lengthy trajectory, the state secretary explained that every project in the St. Maarten Reconstruction Trust Fund, which is managed by the World Bank, requires a thorough preparation in order to be successful. “A lot of time went into this in the first years of the Trust Fund.”
Since then, many projects have been executed and results have been accomplished. “More and more results are becoming visible. I understand that for people who were affected by the hurricane, things can and must always move faster. I also comprehend that feeling. That is why, wherever possible, the Netherlands helps with mitigating delaying factors, “said the state secretary.
Major bottlenecks in the execution of the reconstruction projects are the lack of capacity and expertise, which is due to St. Maarten’s small scale, as well as high worldwide inflation and production chain crisis.
The Dutch government supports the St. Maarten government with additional capacity and specific expertise. An example of this is the involvement of the Royal Schiphol Group in the reconstruction of Princess Juliana International Airport terminal, which started in October 2021 after thorough preparation, stated Van Huffelen.
Also, technical assistance was provided to St. Maarten, as a result of which progress was made in the sustainable waste management policy. “At this moment, more progress is being made on the dossier of the dump. In September this year, the relocation started of people living on or directly next to the dump.”
In the first half of 2022, it became clear that the new hospital project is facing higher costs due to the worldwide problems in the production chain. Other projects too can be confronted with these delays and higher cost. The state secretary said that in principle it was a matter for the Trust Fund to mitigate these risks. The matter will be discussed during the upcoming meeting of the Trust Fund Steering Committee.
As for the Pointe Blanche prison, Van Huffelen stated that initial reconstruction work was carried out to the penitentiary during the emergency phase, the early recovery phase and the reconstruction phase. The (larger) improvements to the detention system and the construction of a new prison do not resort under the activities of the Trust Fund. The Dutch government has made 30 million euros available for this purpose.
