PHILIPSBURG:--- Road repairs in Sint Maarten were temporarily placed on hold because of a shortage of asphalt, but a new shipment is expected shortly, Minister of VROMI Patrice Gumbs Jr. announced Wednesday.
Gumbs said minor interventions had continued where possible but acknowledged that the small repairs regularly carried out by government were no longer sufficient to address the condition of the country’s roads.
“There is more work that has to be done more structurally in terms of how you maintain and structure your roads,” the minister said.
Urgent road repairs were undertaken approximately one to two months ago and helped address some traffic problems. However, Gumbs said road quality is only one component of the wider congestion problem.
The minister explained that Sint Maarten’s small size and limited local asphalt supply can interrupt planned maintenance work.
“There is a shipment of asphalt coming in shortly,” he said.
No arrival date, quantity or list of roads scheduled for repair was provided.
Gumbs said the Ministry is also considering introducing a more structured road-management system instead of depending primarily on emergency repairs and patchwork.
One method under consideration is the use of pavement condition indexes. Such a system would allow government to grade roads, determine their physical condition and establish what type of intervention is required and when it should take place.
The approach could also help government match road repairs to the available budget and avoid spending money on interventions that do not address the underlying condition of a road.
Gumbs said the matter was discussed during his visit to Aruba.
The minister acknowledged that the repeated small-scale interventions now being carried out are inadequate.
“The small interventions that we constantly do aren’t enough anymore,” he said.
No timetable was announced for implementing the proposed road-grading system. Gumbs also did not provide the value of the incoming asphalt shipment or the budget available for the next round of repairs.
The announcement leaves motorists waiting for details about which deteriorated roads will receive priority and whether the incoming asphalt will be sufficient to complete more than another limited series of temporary interventions.
