Government signs long-overdue funding agreements for airport reconstruction
PHILIPSBURG – In February MP Frans Richardson of the United St. Maarten party (USp) declared during a debate about funding for the reconstruction of the airport terminal in parliament that “The agreement with More...
Public Discourse on the National Recovery and Resilience Plan
Philipsburg St. Maarten, November 12, 2019 – The administration of the Trust Fund by the World Bank continues to generate much discussion and tension. And while the recent report by the Ombudsman, titled “Home More...
At a snail’s pace
By Hilbert Haar Without further ado, former Finance Minister Michael Ferrier has pointed to the procedures the World Bank uses for the distribution of recovery-dollars from the trust fund to explain why post Hurricane More...
Former Minister Ferrier: “The trust fund is failing”
PHILIPSBURG – “If the rules allow hurricane victims to remain homeless after two years, something is not right about the rules,” former interim Finance Minister Michael Ferrier writes in a letter to the editor More...
Ferrier: It is never nice to say “I told you so”
Dear Editor, “I told you so” is a phrase used when a warning issued in the past is ignored, only to be proven correct in the present. It is never nice to say, “I told you so”, but if ever there was a good More...
Government remains committed to agreement with World Bank about airport reconstruction
PHILIPSBURG – The government remains committed to the airport reconstruction financing agreement with the World Bank and the European Investment Bank. This appears from statements made by Prime Minister Leona More...
Knops puts Van Raak at ease about parliament building
PHILIPSBURG – There is no proposal at the parliament in St. Maarten to use money earmarked for the reconstruction after Hurricane Irma for “a new expensive parliament, a futuristic project for a salt-crystal More...
Finance Minister confirms that funds from the World Bank could take six months
PHILIPSBURG—The Minister of Finance Perry Geerlings has stated that the only finance opportunity that the government negotiated is with the World Bank and the European Investment Bank is a package deal. The minister More...
Time to Objectively Evaluate World Bank Program and Bottlenecks, says President of Parliament Wescot-Williams
Philipsburg, St. Maarten, February 4, 2019 – Amidst reports of accomplishments by the Government of St. Maarten as far as the Trust Fund is concerned, the debate continues as to the speed or lack there-of in More...
MP Emmanuel announces motion of no confidence
~ Minister Johnson absent from airport-debate ~ PHILIPSBURG – On the fringes of the parliamentary debate about the financing of the airport’s reconstruction National Alliance MP Christophe Emmanuel called More...
