Knops 3: With The Airport, There Was A Lack Of ‘Political Will’, At The Dump And Vromi, A Lack Knowledge, Expertise & Execution Powers

When asked if he would repeat his approach to the Irma Hurricane in St Maarten, ID another Hurricane were to hit this year. Knops believes that St Maarten is in a better position for disasters than it was pre-Hurricae Irma. “The special thing is that if this were to happen again, everyone would know what needs to be regulated and what is ready with regard to legislation. That’s the advantage. What we may have underestimated is that it is again here: it takes two to tango. In this case, of course, these are three parties: the Netherlands, the World Bank and Sint Maarten. If you want to get projects off the ground on the island itself with the principles we have chosen, namely as many local companies and local employment as possible, then you have to accept that sometimes it takes a little longer. But we saw, for example, at the airport that there was a lack of political will; Let me put it this way. With the dump, it is also an issue that the knowledge and expertise are hardly available and that there was no follow-up. The ministries responsible, the Ministry of VROMI in this case, did not have sufficient execution power to be able to do so themselves. So you can have a very capable World Bank with all the technical expertise, but if on the other side of the partnership one is insufficiently receptive or does not have enough knowledge to be able to respond to it, then it does not work. That balance has to be sought. We may have thought too easily at first that the country of Saint Martin should be able to do so. I think that’s what people thought. We found out that it can’t work without adding expertise. We have done the same thing by now.
Mr Rosenmöller (GroenLinks):
Finally. That World Bank construction

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