fbpx
Published On: Fri, Mar 15th, 2019

National Recovery Program Bureau opens

Director NRPB Claret Conner and members of the World Bank

PHILIPSBURG — The National Recovery Program Bureau headed by former parliamentarian Claret Connor has finally opened its doors to the general public. Connor in his new function held a press conference to outline the work that his team is expected to undertake during the recovery phase.

Connor stated that there is some US $200 million earmarked for the National Recovery Program which will be monitored by the representatives of the World Bank. In the Emergency Recovery Project 1, there are several areas that they are addressing such as the repairs and the procurement of the disaster preparedness facilities and the existing equipment for the police, ambulance and the fire department are being done.

The funding for the repairs of the police stations in Philipsburg and the Simpson Bay Sub-station is being undertaken by the NRP. There are also repairs to be done to the existing shelters of which the tender was only closed a few days ago.

There is the need for new vehicles which include firetrucks, ambulances and support vehicles for critical functions such as for the Ministry of VROMI inspection department, Meteorological and Tax Departments.

There will also be the restoration and resilience of the island utility company GEBE infrastructure such as the water storage and the electricity services capacity will be done following the signing of the negotiated subsidiary agreement that will determine which activity will be executed.

Since his appointment Connor visited the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation where 117 units are in the process of being repaired. While the roof repair program that was originally established by the Ministry of VROMI after the hurricanes of 2017 it has now being taken over by the NRPB.

With regard to the repairs to the schools and public buildings the NRPB will be is busy with the preparation of a tender for the technical assessment before hiring a contractor for these buildings. He noted that until now all the contracts that were given out have been with local contractors.

Pin It