Govt wants NAf. 49M bond to complete new building

PHILIPSBURG--Government has requested a bond issuance of NAf. 49 million by the Central Bank of Cura�ao and St. Maarten to complete the long-overdue Government Administration Building on Pond Island.

The bank will give a formal response soon, as a letter it sent to government in September 2010 is now outdated. That letter outlined mostly conditions to issue the bond pre-October 10, when St. Maarten was still an island territory and not a country within the Dutch Kingdom.

Government had requested in a letter dated January 6 that the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT give "authority/approval" for a NAf. 76 million bond, Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams told the press on Wednesday.

That amount included funds to pay off several pre-financed projects, totalling some NAf. 27 million. When a new approach to refinance those loans was taken by government, CFT was requested to consider only the bond issuance for the Government Building.

CFT had informed government that the approval of the bond issuance depended on the country having a balanced budget and the updated report on the collective sector. Those two criteria now have been met with the budget approval at the end of June and the completion of the collective sector report by the Foundation Government Accountants Bureau SOAB. CFT has been sent this information and a response is expected by next week.

Every week the government building is not completed and in use costs government money, the Prime Minister said. "I want you to understand why there is such urgency behind getting this building ready for occupation. It is becoming very, very costly."

Wescot-Williams met with Central Bank President Emsley Tromp in St. Maarten on Thursday about the bond issuance, deemed a "salient matter" for government, and other bank matters. The meeting came a week after the Prime Minister said publicly that communication with the bank was difficult. Tromp had "offered" to come to St. Maarten for the meeting, according to the Prime Minister.

Source: http://www.thedailyherald.com/islands/1-islands-news/19564-govt-wants-naf-49m-bond-to-complete-new-building.html

Luis Moreno-Ocampo Sir Alex Ferguson Eric Pickles Aston villa Boxing City breaks