Business View Caribbean | March 2021

91 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN MARCH 2021 government projects, mainly in the $10,000 to $300,000 range. Some are still ongoing from last year and there are a small number of new jobs. In Statia, however, the Golden Rock Resort development is a godsend for the construction industry. “It’s a big project on 100 hectares being created by a private investor,” says Djasmin, “and they keep on changing the plans until they are satisfied… so we are happy to stay and keep working.” Last year, a well was drilled near the sea to pump salt water from there through an osmosis plant to make fresh drinking water, so the whole resort can be self-supporting from water. It was imperative that no soil from the area where they were working went into the sea because it would be detrimental to the coral reef. Djasmin reports, “That project has been completed and they are producing about 300 cubic meters of water per day for use at the resort. We’re now busy putting up the swimming pool and the infrastructure around the hotels. Also building the condos, and preparing the WINDWARD ROADS INFRASTRUCTURE land. Excavating, putting in electrical cables, data cables, sewage lines – we have the whole project underway. Work will continue for this whole year and maybe next year because they haven’t done one tenth of the whole area that is planned for development. Setting up first the two hotels and then building many, many condos and some bungalows means there is a lot of work still in the pipeline over there.” With the pandemic restrictions in place, travel for workers is difficult. People can go back and forth from Saba to Statia without quarantine, but there are only two flights a week from Saba – on Friday and Saturday. So if the company needs a mechanic for one day, he has to stay for a whole week, which wastes time and money. And while there are regular flights going on between Statia and St. Maarten, passengers do have to quarantine. As a result, the Windward Roads team and their clients are now doing constant online communication and meetings between Saba, Statia, and St. Maarten because