Business View Caribbean | June 2019

41 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN JUNE 2019 WINDWARD ROADS INFRASTRUCTURE Maintenance is another part of their portfolio. Windward builds the sewage infrastructure and maintains it for the government of St. Maarten. And the company specializes in building runways – most recently on Saba. It was one of the smallest runways in the Caribbean. The project was especially challenging because it was a concrete runway built within 8 weeks; generally, the runways are made from asphalt. Hurricane Irma Montesant studied Civil Engineering in Holland and has worked with Janssen de Jong for the last 12 years and became Director of Windward Roads in early 2019. He recalls, “I wasn’t living in St. Maarten during the 2017 hurricanes, I was residing on Curacao. But my first impression… after seeing what they’ve rebuilt in the 18 months after Irma, one word comes to my mind – Resilience. They are a resilient community devoted to rebuilding. As their slogan says: Building Back Better. Making St. Maarten strong again. I see the entrepreneurs; people believing in the island and moving forward after the devastation. You still see daily the traces of damages around you. Some buildings cannot be recovered; a lot of destruction has passed. I admire this resilience very much… it’s an honor for me to become a part of the rebuilding of Sint Maarten.” Colleagues in the company started work on the clean-up process on St. Maarten soon after the hurricane hit. Windward Roads had some minor damage, but their facilities are Category 4 built, and heavy equipment is made to endure, so they were able to start back almost immediately. Currently, road construction is a bit on the slow side, waiting for funds from the World Bank to proceed, but some small projects are in motion and moving forward. Safety has become an important priority. Once a month, Windward Roads holds safety toolbox meetings and workplace check inspections. From a company perspective, wearing safety shoes, safety gear, cleaning, etc. are important parts of every job. Montesant notes that the Dutch Government, through World Bank, along with the Government of St. Maarten, are putting in a lot of effort to come with tenders to repair and rebuild St. Maarten