The funding requests represent 91 per cent of the total available programme budgets, an increase of seven per cent compared to the results at the end of 2010. This is one of the highlights from USONA?s first half-year progress report. Of the approved amount, 73 per cent has been committed in execution assignments, of which 52 per cent has been paid.
Spread over all islands the status is:
For the programme Institutional Strengthening and Execution Power (Institutionele Versterking en Bestuurskracht ? IVB) 79 projects have been approved for a total amount of 104 million guilders.
For the programme Education and Youngsters (Onderwijs en Jongeren) a total amount of 137 million guilders has been invested in 43 projects.
The programme Social Economic Initiative (Sociaal Economisch Initiatief ? SEI) has invested 175 million guilders in 176 projects.
A total of 304 million guilders has been settled for all three programmes in execution agreements from 2008 and payments have been made for 159 million guilders.
St. Maarten, Cura�ao and the public entities Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius have agreed with the Netherlands that the latter will grant cooperation funds up to and including December 31, 2012.
For most of the programmes it is possible to reach commitments with third parties up to that date. The execution of the cooperation programmes can continue up until 2014. Considering the short remaining period of time the execution will have to take place quickly.
?The islands, SONA and USONA dedicate themselves in order to prevent that the funds expire at the end of the cooperation agreements. This is most urgent in the case of the social and economic SEI projects,? it was stated in a press release from USONA on Sunday. ?As a consequence of the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles, Stichting Ontwikkeling Nederlandse Antillen has changed its name into Stichting SONA, by means of an amendment of its articles of association.?
The execution of the SEI programme is going satisfactorily, it was stated in the release. The SEI programme has been set up to offer the islands a good starting position in the transition to the new political structure.
For Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius the SEI programme is completely in execution; this means that just about all funds have been fixed in projects and the execution is developing in the right direction, while St. Maarten and Cura�ao still have a few months to put the remaining funds into execution.
In the first half of 2011, USONA again approved a few projects that are worth millions. In St. Maarten these are the expansion of the Illidge Road sewage/drainage project for 14.8 million guilders and the Cole Bay roundabout phase 2 for 5.8 million guilders.
In Cura�ao these are the Foundation Education 2010-2012 RKCS for six million guilders and Foundation Education Cura�ao 2011-2012 SAE for 11.6 million guilders.
Another highlight is the expectation that the European Commission and the entities of the former Netherlands Antilles will sign financial agreements in November this year.
Considering that all islands have requested SONA and its Execution Organisation USONA to remain the administrator and the execution organisation of the cooperation funds, SONA and the European Commission will sign new delegation agreements that will ensure that USONA will be involved in the execution of the European Union programmes up to 2015 for sure.
The ninth EDF programmes all are being executed. This entails an amount of more than 120 million guilders of European funds for cooperation projects. In Saba the project Under the Hill has started. This project enables infrastructure for the construction of social homes. In St. Eustatius 28 kilometres of new water pipes are being installed, to supply the households on the island with potable water.
Middle East Wolverhampton Wanderers Lee Cattermole Pakistan cricket team Vladimir Putin North and Central America
No comments:
Post a Comment