Developments regarding Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) followed each other quickly over the past few days. First the court ruled that dismissed operating company PJIAE CEO Brian Mingo must be reinstated immediately, with a penalty of US $20,000 per day up to $500,000.
Then, this newspaper reported on a letter from Dutch State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops to St. Maarten Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs confirming that he was withholding 39 million Netherlands Antillean guilders in liquidity support until corporate governance issues jeopardising the airport’s reconstruction are structurally addressed. He mentioned in particular “untrustworthy handling” by the director and two supervisory board members of holding company PJIAH, including the appointment of two new board members.
That was followed by word of government as sole shareholder suspending PJIAH CEO Dexter Doncher, seen as chiefly responsible for these earlier-mentioned actions. Not everyone apparently agreed, but there was little choice.
Finance Minister Ardwell Irion (see Wednesday edition) just recently told Parliament the country will run into cashflow problems by the end of this month or early June without more financial assistance from the Netherlands. Not only that, but thousands of people in the private sector are now dependent on this money for income and employment support or payroll subsidies via their employers.
Moreover, procurement for the project to fully restore the island’s main gateway finally started 3½ years after it was damaged by the hurricanes of September 2017, which has become more crucial than ever to revive the local tourism economy strongly impacted by the coronavirus-related crisis. That is bigger than all involved.
