By Hilbert Haar
The reconstruction of the Princess Juliana International Airport is a multi-million dollar project. Projects of such magnitude have the tendency to attract the attention of people with less than honorable intentions. From the perspective of a criminal mind this makes sense because half a percent of $100 million is still 500,000 very cool dollars.
So what has been happening? Airport director Brian Mingo scored 90 percent on the evaluation of his performance in 2020. That is a stellar performance, so Mingo cannot be the problem.
And yet, the supervisory board of the airport’s holding company demanded that Mingo steps down in a letter dated December 3, 2020 – way after the completion of his evaluation.
The holding reproaches Mingo for cost overruns, based on a presentation he made to the Council of Ministers. But Mingo has made clear that there are no cost overruns. The projection of a potential price hike from $107 to $119 million is a precautionary initiative. In the unfortunate case that the airport needs that additional $12 million, the organization has to be ready for it.
Besides, the bids are not even in yet, so nobody knows what the real cost is going to be. Observers have described all other reasons the holding gave for its demand that Mingo steps down with one word: nonsense.
So what is going on here? We all know that there are forces above the government pulling strings at every opportunity. A multi-million dollar project is too yummy to ignore. The supra-governmental force used to be the so-called Cupecoy shadow government but apparently that group is falling apart.
So now it comes down to individuals who want a piece of the pie. At least three of them can be found in Parliament. Bribery-suspect MP Claudius Buncamper who declared Mingo’s evaluation-result without any further explanation as “worthless,” MP Christophe Emmanuel who keeps shouting at every opportunity he gets that Mingo has to go, and the inevitable President of Parliament, Rolando Brison.
The funding for the reconstruction project comes from three sources: the World Bank and the European Investment Bank ($50 million each) and the airport itself with a contribution of $7 million. The WB/EIB loans come with conditions and that is not to the liking of the vultures that are circling around this project. They want to do things their own way and grab a piece of this irresistible pie.
That is why Mingo has to go because he stands in their way. That’s why the supervisory board of the exploitation company has to go because there is a very experienced Chief Financial Officer on board (Leo van der Meiden on behalf of the Royal Schiphol Group).
It is in the interest of the airport, and by extension in the interest of St. Maarten’s economy and the well-being of all the people who live here, that the reconstruction project is executed in a financial and technical responsible way.
Every dollar that ends up in the wrong hands and thereby does not contribute to the airport’s rehabilitation, is a dollar lost. It is very clear that the resistance against Mingo and his supervisory board is all about contracts and concessions, about who gets what.
It is a somewhat comforting thought that the whole project is governed by World Bank procedures. Maybe these procedures are slow, and maybe they are complicated, but they sure as hell will prevent that the wrong people get their hands on money that does not belong to them.
In this context the warning letter from the World Bank is very useful. It did not state this in so many words, but to me the meaning of that letter is clear: remove Mingo and his supervisory board and the $100 million+ funding deal is off the table.
In that scenario the saboteurs who are causing all this trouble will have to find money in the private financial market where they will be hit with interest rates of at least 5 to 7 percent. Compare that to the 2.5 percent on the WB/EIB-loans. That’s right: a difference of $2.5 to $4.5 million in interest charges per year. Is there any politician left with a functioning calculator? I wonder.
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Related articles:
How the airport became a political football
Mingo keeps focus on airport reconstruction
The airport-saga: facts and fiction
