Dear Editor,
When it comes to new properties on virgin land (like the China Pearl project), St. Maarten is a little like a card player in a tough position with very few cards to play to win the jackpot. Allowing “greenfield” properties, like that in the Belair area, to be used for new projects without commitments to infrastructure development is like the card player playing one of his last hands. Making the decision on when to play the last cards is a tough one and the difficulty of the decision easily underrated.
One of the easy solutions to keeping growth in the economy is to attract these sorts of projects. And it is possible that this is the critical moment to play that card. On the other hand the card is one of the last ones and it may be better to “pass.”
The better solution is to make sure that the country has more cards to play. Such cards would be created when we can effectively diversify or reduce the loss of existing diversifications. Such a card would be when we have sufficient public surpluses that we can stimulate the renewal of existing properties or drive new diversification by incentives.
Such a solution would be when our economy is operating so well and investors are getting returns at a level that we can choose the investors that bring the most value to the country. All solutions are likely to be better when the community has a greater level of trust that our hand is being played well.
Robbie Ferron
