The Entrepreneur's Breakfast, organized last Saturday by FIPCOM-MEDEF, brought together more than a hundred participants in the multipurpose room of Daniella Jeffry High School in Concordia. The venue was chosen for its symbolism, and the young people excelled in the quality of their welcome and service. In front of a packed audience of business leaders, institutional representatives, and elected officials, the topics discussed revealed a palpable tension between the stated ambitions and the obstacles facing the daily Saint-Martin economy.
The new prefectural team
The president of the FIPCOM-MEDEF, Michel Vogel, opened by recalling the challenge of these meetings: to foster a concrete, frank and constructive dialogue between all the stakeholders in the territory. Facing him, the representatives of the State, starting with Prefect Cyrille Le Vély, detailed their roadmap. Having arrived two months ago, the State representative insisted on the proximity that he intends to embody: "This is the first position where I am greeted in the street, and as an individual, I very quickly forge almost friendly ties." listening posture, shared by his team: Fabrice Thibier, secretary general of the prefecture, and Marie-Hildegarde Chauveau, chief of staff, stressed the importance of working hand in hand with economic players, even on subjects deemed "sovereign" such as security or crisis management.
Because security is indeed a priority. The prefect recalled that "Saint-Martin is today one of the safest islands in the Caribbean," an essential condition for attracting investors and tourists. But tranquility is not enough. It is necessary to " ensure a pleasant daily life ", he insisted: water, electricity, cleanliness, schools, passable roads, social peace… So many pillars for sustainable development of the territory.
Tensions in the construction industry
The speeches by MP Frantz Gumbs and the President of the Collectivité Louis Mussington provided an opportunity to outline the main areas of upcoming projects: social housing, urban planning, water and waste management, and urban renewal. However, it was the construction sector that generated the most tension. The prefect himself mentioned the sector's difficulties, linked to public procurement and a still-fragile structure. "It must be in everyone's best interest," he insisted.
Facing him, the construction professionals expressed their concerns without hesitation. worries : late payments, limited access to public procurement, overwhelming external competition, lack of visibility on calls for tender, complexity of insurance procedures, projects not adapted to the local fabric. Franck Fleming of the BTP federation, in the presence of President Jean-Paul Fischer, denounced a increasingly untenable situation : “We are forgotten, we are given small contracts to silence us while the big contracts go to big companies.”
Open the dialogue
Other sensitive issues include the impossibility of insuring solar equipment or construction in so-called high-risk areas, the long delays in obtaining building permits, the lack of staff in urban planning departments, and the absence of a public procurement observatory. These are well-known problems, but they seem to be bogged down due to a lack of concrete solutions. The president of the CCISM, Angèle Dormoy, has nevertheless proposed setting up a newsletter containing calls for tenders to be transmitted to all stakeholders in the construction industry. The moderator, Sandrine Jabouley, recalled the urgency of "structuring discussions" and "planning regular working meetings."
On the Community side, Louis Mussington reached out, stating that he was "in tune with the concerns of the local community" and ready to review certain measures. local housing plan, which plans to produce 1800 housing units within 6 months, is currently being activated, while a social housing reform has been under discussion since January 2025 to overcome the financial blockage.
The challenge of ecological transition
Finally, EDF representatives highlighted the challenges associated with the energy transition: aging installations, growing consumption, and the lack of insurance for solar panels. An investment of €130 million is planned to build a modern and “100% renewable” power plant by 2029, but in the meantime, the room for maneuver is narrow. The prefect interjected: "I'm Breton, I don't understand why we don't have a real solar industry here!"
At the end of this dense, sometimes tense, but useful breakfast, the actors agreed not to leave it at that. Several proposed to quickly organize a series of thematic meetings with public decision-makers, to move beyond observation and into action. It remains to transform this shared desire into a concrete timetable.
Source: Faxinfo https://faxinfo.fr/en/societe-petit-dejeuner-de-lentrepreneur-les-attentes-se-crispent-le-dialogue-reste-ouvert/
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