THE HAGUE–St. Maarten desires clarity about financing the recovery of St. Maarten. That is the general message of interim-prime minister Leona Marlin-Romeo and Minister of Finance Mike Ferrier in The Hague.
On Thursday they met Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and on Friday they will have a meeting with State Secretary for Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops and with Hans Leijtens, Director-General for the Windward Islands Reconstruction Programme.
“This morning we had a great meeting with prime-minister Mark Rutte. We gave an update of running processes, such as the Integrity Chamber, border control and the Recovery Fund. The meeting was very promising. He understands our side exactly and where we are coming from,” said Marlin-Romeo.
Explaining the current status to Rutte, Marlin-Romeo and Ferrier mentioned the National Recovery Plan which is basically completed. “We have been proactive and set up the framework for a project bureau that will execute the National Recovery Plan. We are in the process of getting that approved by the Council of Ministers,” she said.
Ferrier added: “We are trying to formalize how this plan will be applied, but we have to do this in a form that is acceptable by the standards of the World Bank. St. Maarten needs to speed up everything to be able to get to that standard. Everything takes time. Until such time, that everything is in place, we can not access the funds.”
Another urgent issue is clarity about the 550 million euro that is available for the recovery. Ferrier said that he needs to know which part is a grant and which part a loan, since the size of the loan determines the interest rates for all other loans, not only by the government but also by entrepreneurs that want to invest and rebuild their businesses on St. Maarten.
Both ministers explained to Rutte that the people of St. Maarten are getting impatient. “Rutte was extremely understanding of our situation and committed to do whatever he can do to help speed up the process, but his hands are also tied to the rules and regulations,” said Ferrier.
The meeting with Knops and Leijtens on Friday will be a follow up to the talks they had on St. Maarten in January. Leijtens already promised he would study the possibility to finance urgent projects by the government, similar to the seven million euro funding for NGO’s.
During the meeting the Marlin-Romeo and Ferrier will also mention the liquidity shortage, despite planned spending cuts and efforts to increase the income. Last week, the Dutch Government offered St. Maarten a 50 million Antillean guilder loan to improve its liquidity position.
Marlin-Romeo and Ferrier will also use their visit to meet people of St. Maarten who moved to the Netherlands after hurricane Irma. “We want to know how they are doing, but we also need them to rebuild St. Maarten.”
Furthermore they want to express their gratitude for the help during and after hurricane Irma. “Sometimes we underestimate the people. The people showed St. Maarten an outpour of concern through a fundraising. It is only right to come back to the people and say thank you. It is never too late. We want to show our gratitude to the people of the Netherlands,” said Marlin-Romeo.
She guaranteed that the people of St. Maarten benefited from the money, for example through vouchers that were handed out by the Red Cross.
“We are the Dutch people very grateful for the help we received and are still receiving. Especially the thirteen million euro of the fund-raising by the Red Cross,” said Ferrier.
“I think it is important, because we are aware of the trust-related issues in the past. Actually, there is a similar issue at the moment with a politician being suspected by the Public Prosecution. The government trusts there will be a fair trial,” he said, referring to the arrest of MP Frans Richardson. “Regrettably, we have a bad reputation in The Netherlands and we are partly responsible for this.” But most people of St. Maarten are sincere. Not everything is either black or white.”
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/73709-leona-marlin-meets-rutte-seeks-clarity-on-recovery-funds
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