PHILIPSBURG--Prime Minister Dr. Luc Mercelina announced on Wednesday that his government will be moving away from renting office space and instead begin acquiring buildings, a shift he described as essential to building long-term assets for the country.
“This PM is making a shift from renting buildings to buying buildings. Why? Because I really believe that we need assets,” Mercelina said during the live Council of Ministers press briefing. He said government funds currently spent on rent should instead go toward ownership.
“If you see the amount of money [spent on renting]. That impressive amount that we are paying [in rent]. I think it’s time that we now stop paying rent and start paying mortgages that at the end of the day in 20 to 30 years my children can say, ‘Okay, these buildings are from my country and they are part of the assets of government,” he said.
Mercelina explained that he has begun questioning all new requests for office space with the aim of steering departments toward purchasing. “So, every time I get a request for approval of a building for whatever department I always ask them the first question – let’s shift now from renting to buying – because I really believe that it’s time now for government to start building up its assets for the future,” he said.
He acknowledged that rental expenses are a “significant amount” that strain the national budget without leaving behind value for the country. “At one point realizing the high amounts that I do not have correctly in my mind but I can tell you the significant amount is also killing the budget and is not going to give nothing to the country, just to pay,” Mercelina said.
He framed the move as part of a vision to strengthen government finances and ensure that public spending creates lasting benefits for future generations.
