Published: 09 March 2021
~ Says Marcel Gumbs a failure for St. Maarten ~
PHILIPSBURG:--- Independent Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel on Tuesday said that considering the lack of progress on Trust Fund projects for St. Maarten, the entire construct of the Trust Fund Steering Committee should be re-evaluated. He also questioned if the three members of this committee will be replaced considering the slow progress on St. Maarten, going on four years after hurricane Irma.
MP Emmanuel pointed out that even State Secretary Raymond Knops has admitted that the World Bank was not the ideal entity to channel reconstruction funds through and criticized the pace of work being executed. Moreover, the MP continued, outside of not working efficiently, "nobody seems to know how this committee actually works, how they evaluate what has to be done, how they measure progress, nothing. It all feels shady because of a lack of transparency. We should be getting monthly updates. We get nothing," the MP said.