# Caribbean Vacations Forums > St. Maarten/St. Martin Travel Forum >  >  No reconstruction funds?

## andynap

This will make the rebuilding of St Maarten impossible and affect the other islands too that rely on flights from SXM

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## KevinS

Reconstruction funds may be made available, subject to certain conditions.  St Maarten's government doesn't like the conditions.There are a number of newspaper article on this, with viewpoints from several players.

https://www.sxm-talks.com/st-martin-...isasters-loom/
http://today.sx/dutch-news/condition...y-force-issue/
https://www.thedailyherald.sx/editor...-ways-than-one
https://www.thedailyherald.sx/island...-instruct-govt
https://www.thedailyherald.sx/island...tch-conditions

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## andynap

All of the articles including the last one indicate there is a standoff and St Maarten doesn’t want to give in to the Dutch demands. No reconstruction  funds without an agreement.

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## KevinS

The airport was allegedly "fully insured", so repairs may not be dependent on funding from the Netherlands.

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## andynap

> The airport was allegedly "fully insured", so repairs may not be dependent on funding from the Netherlands.



Certainly hope so but infrastructure probably isnt and with that goes the health of the island and tourism and the amount of airline traffic.

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## andynap

If we continue to visit SBH I certainly dont want Tradewind to be my regular airline.

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## phil62

The "Integrity" issue has been a long running problem on St Maarten, and I think the Dutch government is right to hold back these funds until the local government satisfies The Hague's demands. It's the only way to insure that the money will actually be spent on reconstruction. I remember back in the Eighties when the Island was put on "higher supervision" by the Dutch government for basically the same reasons. I'm also sure that an eventual settlement will be achieved because the Island must be re-built. 

Phil

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## zcrambler

I saw that Anguilla is extending the runway and is looking to make changes for more traffic.  I wonder if that will become a more accessible option for flying into the region.

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## BBT

The former Dutch colony of Sint Maarten, devastated by a Caribbean hurricane last month, is refusing to accept two conditions which the Dutch government wants to impose on rebuilding its ravaged infrastructure, Trouw said on Monday. The paper says prime minister William Marlins government does not agree with Dutch insistence on setting up a special Dutch-run body to oversee the flow of funds and ensure corruption is kept out. Although Marlin has said he is not unwilling to set up some form of supervisory body, he says the Dutch integrity chamber cannot be established before the Dutch ultimatum, and instead wants to use the islands own organisation in which the Netherlands would have a role, but not the final say. The Netherlands is creating a multi-million euro fund to finance the reconstruction of the island which will provide loans under very strict conditions to ensure maximum monitoring. Sources in The Hague and on Sint Maarten told Trouw last month that the fund may be as high as 260m but that the final amount will be decided in the coming weeks. Outsiders Marlin is also unwilling to accept the Dutch insistence that border controls be stepped up involving Dutch military police officers, Trouw said. The aim is to stop outsiders coming to the island to work for rogue construction companies and to ensure locals benefit from the contracts, the paper said. Outgoing home affairs minister Ronald Plasterk has given Sint Maarten until the end of this month to agree to his terms. Trouw says Marlins letter to Plasterk is extremely courteous in tone and that he has offered to come to the Netherlands to discuss the issue. Nevertheless, saying no twice to the Dutch demands risks delaying the rebuilding programme, Trouw said.

Read more at DutchNews.nl: Sint Maarten says no to Dutch demands over repairing hurricane damage http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archive...amage112538-2/

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