PM: "One of our shortcomings is an insufficient collaboration as far as projects are concerned between Government and Government owned companies"
The Prime Minister of St. Maarten the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams highlighted Government Capital Projects and informed the processes and plans contained therein during a statement issued over the weekend.
The Prime Minister also explained that the new estimates within the budget are now in the process of being vetted by the CFT; "It is important to address the issue of Government Capital Projects in terms of the Budget. I have also heard persons asking why Government can’t pay the Cost of Living Index while at the same time building the causeway for example. In the case of the Causeway it was built by the Harbor who contracted the loan to under a subsidiary company of the Harbor called SLAC. One of our shortcomings is an insufficient collaboration as far as projects are concerned between Government and Government owned companies. When it comes to long-term projects that actually span more than one year and are considered capital projects you need to seek money to do those projects. That money should not come out of the operational budgets. For 2014 our budget has been approved on time so we can look at capital expenditures for 2014. We needed to prioritize those expenditures and so for all ministries we came up with a proposal for approximately 88 million guilders in terms of capital projects across the seven ministries with the two main Ministries in 2014 in terms of capital projects being the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of VROMI. Under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports there is also a Budgetary estimate for the National Center for the performing arts which the country is in dire need of. Another example is that of a the collaboration between SZV for the building of the new hospital.
"The intention of Government to pursue loans to this amount has to be vetted by the CFT and Budget Amendments have to be made and those decisions should also be communicated to the CFT. We are right now waiting for the approval of the CFT for that amount taking various factors into consideration," concluded Prime Minister Wescot-Williams.