The roof of a residence that was damaged in Hurricane Irma.
The same home with a concrete roof and many additional repairs and upgrades.
ST. EUSTATIUS–Some 100 homes so far have been completed under the housing reconstruction project funded by the Dutch Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations. The project is handling the repairs of roofs that were damaged during last year’s hurricanes.
Government Commissioner Marcolino “Mike” Franco stated that as of right now 100 homes have been completed, with 24 more homes due to be completed by the end of this month.
Speaking about the detention facility set to be built behind the St. Eustatius Police Station, Franco said that the planned location at Man Of War was not used because the cost of building in that location was too high, and because of objections by citizens. Hence, it was decided to move the planned detention centre to the Police Station.
Franco said government is looking into the possibilities to entice a medical school to come to Statia to replace University of St. Eustatius School of Medicine, which left the island in September 2013. The school’s departure caused a loss of US $5 million because of the trickledown effect.
“How it went with the medical school was not good and we will be careful in the future because of this, but we would welcome the opportunity if there is another organisation or school that could bring this amount of money to the island. The only thing is that government cannot force these companies to the island. It has to be attractive for them to come here to do their business,” Franco said.
The policy is that if there is a school that would like to come to the island they will try to cut through all the red tape. “In Curaçao, two schools left because of accreditation issues as students could not get their degree recognized in their home country. If a school should come, we will make sure their accreditation is good.”
Boardwalk Café at Gallows Bay has no restrooms, whereas the health code states that restrooms are required. The restaurant is utilizing the restrooms of St. Eustatius National Parks STENAPA.
Franco said the restaurant had obtained a permit from the previous government. In the permit it is stated that Boardwalk Café could rent the STENAPA restrooms as long as the restaurant cleans the stall during operating hours.
Franco said the café is under a tent. “Should they install restrooms too close, it would not be attractive to potential customers.” He did say that the restaurant is in the process of fixing the fishery restrooms, which are much closer to the establishment.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/79614-100-homes-completed-under-housing-reconstruction-project
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