The Honorable Roland E. Duncan, Minister
Minister of Constitutional and Home Affairs Roland Duncan yesterday forwarded a financing request of the Executive Council of Sint Maarten, for the funding of a project engaging quartermasters for Sint Maarten. Quartermasters will be used to lead and guide the setting up of new departments/directorates of Ministries of Country Sint Maarten. Funds are being secured to employ quartermasters for the following Ministries or sectors of country Sint Maarten: Finance, Education, Spatial Planning, General Affairs and Health Affairs. The project proposal was prepared by the Directorate of Programs and Projects of the island territory and approved by Minister Duncan for submission to USONA for funding. The Project amounts to NAF 1.113.750, 00.
In preparation for the implementation of the project a PROTOCOL will be signed between the Executive Council and the Minister to govern the execution of the project. The protocol will call for the Executive Council to have full freedom, authority and responsibility for the engagement, functioning and production of the quartermasters. The Minister will retain oversight of the financial management of the project. A draft of this protocol has already been forwarded to the Executive council. Minister Duncan hopes that signing can take place shortly, preferably before the end of this month.
The funding of this project is part of the NAF 14 million financing agreement signed by the Minister with State Secretary Mrs. Ank Bijleveld-Schouten on February 14th 2008 for projects connected with the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles. Projects in execution based on this agreement are, among others, [a] institution of protocol department St. Maarten, [b] Strengthening maritime management, [c] dismantling Netherlands Antilles, [d] customs, [e] assistance to island territory Curacao, [f] Kadaster Bonaire, etc.