THE HAGUE–The Dutch government has started the legal budgetary procedure to transfer the second tranche of 150 million euros to the St. Maarten Reconstruction Trust Fund.
Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Kajsa Ollongren submitted a proposal to the Dutch Parliament on Wednesday for an incidental subsidiary budgetary law to transfer 150 million euros from the supplementary budget item of the Ministry of Finance to the budget of Kingdom Relations.
The second tranche will be deposited in the St. Maarten Trust Fund, which is managed by the World Bank. The Netherlands is the donor of the trust fund for which in total 470 million euros has been reserved to assist the island in the recovery process after Hurricane Irma caused major damage in September 2017.
Dutch State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops received a request from the World Bank on October 15 to make 150 million euros available in capital for a deposit of the second tranche in the Trust Fund. Knops informed the Second and First Chambers of the Dutch Parliament per letter on Thursday.
“With these funds, new recovery projects can be approved by the Steering Group of the Trust Fund. It concerns, among other things, the tackling of the waste dump, the restoration of the airport terminal, a stimulation project for affected entrepreneurs and the implementation of sustainable waste management,” Knops stated in his letter.
Of the first tranche of US $134 million, $111.5 million has been released and $18 million reserved for projects and analyses, he explained. He announced that he would receive a progress report from the World Bank later this year, after which he would update the Parliament on the recovery progress before year end.
The law proposal to transfer 150 million euros to the Kingdom Relations budget is the fourth incidental subsidiary budget on the adopted 2018 Kingdom Relations budget. The law proposal is expected to be approved by the Second Chamber this month.
In total, the Dutch government made 550 million euros available for St. Maarten’s reconstruction. The largest part is reserved for the Trust Fund. The remaining 80 million will be spend outside the World Bank.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/82237-procedure-started-for-next-recovery-trust-fund-deposit
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