Business View Caribbean | February 2020

56 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN FEBRUARY 2020 lot of work for the government - mostly small jobs in the $10,000 to $300,000 range. One great example is the complete renovation of Sacred Heart Primary School. “We renewed the playground by removing 600 sq. meters of concrete,” says Vanderbij. “And we replaced it with new concrete because there was a lot of water accumulated. When it rained, it had nowhere to drain, so we fixed that. And we replaced 62 windows, made new bathrooms, and new storage rooms. It was a big job for us and we had to do it in the summer holiday this year. So, in six weeks we did a lot of work. And now, we have two other jobs underway at that school because they were really satisfied with the work we did. Those jobs we have to accomplish on Fridays and Saturdays and over the holidays.” In a nod to environmental sustainability, the used concrete is taken to “Hell’s Gate”– a landfill dump in a ravine area that is controlled by the government. Every excess piece of concrete or rock wall or soil from construction projects on the island is used to fill up that area. SABA Roads & Construction also has a large hydroponics greenhouse project on the go. Vanderbij reports, “Saba wants to have some greenhouses for growing vegetables and we do the earthwork for that. We have to clean up a whole area and make it flat, and pour foundations, and then they bought some greenhouses from Holland that will be installed. The goal is to get into selling produce on the island, so that’s a good thing.” Saba R&C and Statia R&C are the biggest among the four or five other contractors who are its competitors on the islands. For major projects, these divisions of Windward Roads are the go-to companies that are usually affordable in price, while still doing excellent quality work. They have all the equipment or skilled personal required, either on-hand, or in nearby St. Maarten, or in the other divisions in Curacao, Aruba, or Bonaire. On Statia and Saba, they run their own concrete plants and bring in cement by boat from St. Maarten. The water, sand and