BELVEDERE:--- With elections around the corner, several candidates have been resorting to various methods of trickery and lies to convince electorates to vote in their favor and to atone for their mismanaged time in government.
It is for this reason and the fact that accusations were made against me personally, that I want to set the record straight on a few things; but firstly I want to address the article that appeared in the August 8,, 2014 edition of The Daily Herald. In this newspaper article, claimed among other things that the St Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) is not functioning and that those not performing should be held accountable. I believe in accountability and I believe in facts, therefore I have listed some facts below, to show that these accusations are clearly unfounded and obviously campaign gimmicks being used to cloud real issues.
Fact:
- The 7.1 million guilder backlog in maintenance, as referred to in the published article, was the result of a trumped maintenance audit conducted in 2008 way before my tenure. However, it was on February 19, 2009 that the Housing Minister became a member of the Supervisory Board until June 13, 2013, despite this one year tenure, nothing was done to clear or reduce the alleged maintenance backlog?
- In my position as Managing Director, together with the Technical Department, we drafted a maintenance plan where we divided the community of Belvedere into seven (7) color coded areas in order to be able to execute, monitor, and report on maintenance objectives more efficiently. Based on this maintenance plan, we have since 2011 to present: replaced over 200 kitchen cabinets, re-plumbed the entire Prospect Estate, retiled over 60 kitchens in Hope Estate (due to the horrible quality of construction) and executed almost a 100 mutations (repair of vacant homes) internally as oppose to externally like was done in the past leading to a reduction in overall costs.
- The SMHDF is burdened with a commercial mortgage with a current balance of 7.2 million USD with an interest rate of 7.1% which came about as a result of mismanagement where the soft loan received from NPMNA from Holland at 2.5% had to be repaid to NPMA. We were hoping that the current minister of Housing over the last 4 1/2 years in government would have made an effort to reduce the debt which would have enabled the foundation to redirect at least Naf 100,000 guilders monthly to maintenance and painting. At the moment, The SMHDF pays USD $111,660.36 "monthly" to the bank as repayment for this commercial loan. Think what this money could do on a monthly basis for creating more affordable units and improving the quality of housing for our people.
- As Managing Director, in collaboration with the Financial Manager we travelled to Curacao and met with the Central Bank where we discussed the possibilities of a Naf 25,000,000 guilders housing bond. With such a bond at an interest rate of maximum 3.5%, the SMHDF would have paid off the high interest loan from the local bank, and the remaining funds would have allowed for the development of at least 30 new social apartments in which we could have relocated some existing tenants in order to execute the necessary maintenance and repairs, or even possibly a complete tearing down and rebuilding, of primarily the units of Prospect Estate, Happy Estate and Low Estate areas. It would have allowed us to purchase land to build new mobile home models which would be sold to the lower income earners on lease-to-own basis which would have helped many improve their financial position when ready to purchase the home after the term expired in the lease-to-own agreement. Unfortunately, with being busy getting 'back to basics', the Minister responsible never bothered to follow-up by with securing that 25 Million guilders through the last leg of government bureaucracy up until today.
- In my current function, as Head of the organization, despite challenges of insubordination I have tried to foster a healthy working relationship amongst staff, which have yielded positive results with an increase in recreational facilities and events in Belvedere, Hope Estate, and soon to be Union Farm. It brings great pride to see the number of social events, which are successfully executed at these venues, many I can boast, with full participation of my staff.
- Going 'Back to Basics' and accountability, I don't think I need to remind the public of the Groundbreaking ceremony held on January 19, 2014 for the commercial buildings and senior units that would have ushered in a new era and life in Belvedere similar to the neighboring DP Gas Station and McDonald's and not to mention also create several job opportunities for persons in the area. Despite the groundbreaking over 7 months ago, not one block has been laid.
- As Managing Director together with the then Minister Heyliger, we broke ground on May 12, 2012 on the first homes for sales in the area of Belvedere. On August 17, 2012 we celebrated the highest point in the rain with then Minister Marlin. On December 12, 2013 a mere 7 months after the groundbreaking, we sold the first home. Subsequently, on May 12, 2013 we broke ground on the six homes in Ebenezer with the then Minister Marlin. Despite us reaching the highest point in a record 2 months on four of the six homes (see article June 10) we did not celebrate due to one Minister's refusal to show up for the ceremony despite having signed for the approval of the project while on the Supervisory Board.
I could go on to mention several other irregularities and untruths but that is not my objective. My objective is to let people know that there is always more to a story that meets the eye and one should never rush to judge until they have all the facts. So in closing, I would like to ask you the reader to be objective. To really look closely and decide if it is the current management of SMHDF that is not functioning efficiently or is it really the cabinet of the Minister that is creating a smoke screen as a political ploy?
My team and I despite all the obstacles, challenges, trumped up allegations, and investigations which have all led to absolutely nothing are and will continue to work towards improving the quality of public housing on St. Maarten. We are not here to lie to you our tenants and the public at large in exchange for vote.
The sale of the existing duplexes is possible and management has already done the ground work with the housing bond, which would entail clearing the current high interest mortgage and as a result of doing so would allow the foundation to increase the number of social apartments.
What we need as a people is not more false hope and since the heat of election, there have been several other candidates making empty promises to the tenants they know they cannot fulfill, some have even requested a full mandate in order to do things such as: selling the duplexes, giving away mobile homes in Cole Bay, reduce rent, provide low interest mortgages, just to name a few. Amazing to the disbelief of many, they have the power to do all of that now without the 8 seats. So why hasn't it been done and why can't it be done before Friday? All I can say to the Belvedere populace is that they should look at all the maintenance and social problems they have been faced with over the years, which are still yet to be addressed, while they have witnessed the construction of Pier II at the harbor; which cost over Naf 10 million, the leaking roofs of their homes were there before the Festival Village which cost around Naf 24 million, the shelling paint and broken stairs were definitely there before the Big Brown Pelicans on the Roundabout at the Airport and long before the Causeway Bridge. More importantly, the many problems of Belvedere were there long before I Henry Lynch got the job as Managing Director.
If we do not wake up and think as a people, putting personal feelings aside, take off our ego jackets, roll up our sleeves and decide to work together for the betterment of our country, then we will have to reap whatever it is we sow.
SMHDF Press Release
