The Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment, and Infrastructure(VROMI), Patrice Gumbs issued a statement regarding the discussion around the road fund.
Minister Patrice Gumbs acknowledged that additional work on the legal structure (Road Fund) was still needed, as confirmed during Wednesday’s Council of Ministers Press Briefing, and the aim is to have this finalized and fully implemented in 2028. This will allow the total amount collected in road tax to finally be allocated towards the islands’ infrastructure. This comes following the response of August 2026 from the Council of Advice, the final legal review authority before a budget goes to Parliament, on the proposed implementation plan submitted by the Ministry earlier this year. Gumbs stated that the Council of Ministers had taken the decision to allocate all the road tax towards the roads.
The Ministry of Finance subsequently communicated that the decision to allocate all the road tax collected towards the roads was not taken up, and a second decision was taken to have all the road tax funds allocated to the roads. It was later communicated that any changes would delay the budget 2027 and that the remaining funds from the road tax were allocated elsewhere in the budget.
Minister of VROMI confirmed that a compromise was made to increase the amount going towards roads in 2027 in a way that avoided other Ministries having to cut their own budgets. This compromise also included the assurance that as of 2028 the entirety of the road tax would go towards roads. As for the 2027 budget, VROMI will receive XCG 5 million once the budget passes in Parliament with the line item unrevised in the approval process (budget debate).
The Minister of VROMI stated that the population continues to pay road tax, but the amount allocated has been steadily decreasing since 2010. The audit chamber flagged this lack of direct allocation as going against the existing law. Gumbs stated that the existence of the legal road fund, or not, is not a reason to not allocate all the road tax towards roads. “People pay this tax in good faith that it is being applied to the roads, and their mounting frustration is understandable when it is not. I must advocate for rectifying something left unfinished since its inception”, Gumbs stated.
“I do understand that my colleague, the Minister of Finance, is ultimately responsible for balancing a budget and its priorities, which is no easy feat. As a coalition member we will continue to work together to find solutions or compromises such as the aforementioned for the sake of the greater good. And this is what I meant by the full implementation of the road fund, not that the Ministry of Finance itself had delayed the process of its legal realization. Any insinuation of such was therefore not intended.” Gumbs finished.
Budget 2027 is scheduled to be debated in Parliament the first week of November.
