THE HAGUE–The Dutch General Audit Chamber is expected to release its report regarding the reconstruction of St. Maarten after a briefing to the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament tentatively slated for December 13.
After receiving several reports and complaints about the slow progress of St. Maarten’s reconstruction, the General Audit Chamber decided a few months ago to carry out an investigation of the governance and financing structure of the reconstruction process in relation to Dutch funding and the Trust Fund for which the Dutch government has reserved 470 million euros. In total, the Dutch government has made 550 million euros available for St. Maarten.
The main question the General Audit Chamber wanted to have answered with this investigation was what the results were of the governance structure that was decided on: the establishing of a Trust Fund which is managed by the World Bank and what this meant for the development and progress of the selected reconstruction projects.
The General Audit Chamber, which has carried out investigations in St. Maarten and in The Hague, has looked at existing agreements about the spending of the Dutch contribution to the Trust Fund to help St. Maarten’s recovery from the devastating September 2017 Hurricane Irma, and how this is being carried out in practice.
According to the General Audit Chamber, it is of utmost importance that the funding is spent in a careful and effective manner that best serves the interest of the St. Maarten people who are in dire need after the hurricane. The renowned institution has also looked at the mechanisms to make sure that the funding ends up in the right place.
The findings will be presented in a report that describes the situation in a factual manner, without conclusions and recommendations. A delegation of the General Audit Chamber will present its findings to the Second Chamber’s Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations. The proposed date for that briefing, which will be behind closed doors, is December 13. After this briefing, the report will be made public.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/83015-audit-chamber-recovery-aid-report-nearing-completion
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