FROM SMALL INTERSECTIONS TO MULTI-ISLAND DELIVERY Founded in 1986 as a small subcontractor on St. Maarten, Windward Roads has scaled by adding capability where island projects need it most: asphalt production and paving, ready-mix concrete, and aggregate recycling.“We started small—intersections and local infrastructure,” says [Witteveen]. “The philosophy was never too big to do a small job. From there, we built the pieces to control quality and time.” Today, the company runs 80+ employees and a broad subcontractor bench, operating as Saba Roads & Construction on Saba, Statia Roads & Construction on St. Eustatius, Anguilla Roads & Infrastructure on Anguilla, plus an administrative entity on the French side. St. Maarten serves as the hub: procurement, customs, staging, and trans-shipment move through the main office and port before materials dispatch to the satellite islands. “Nearly everything flows through St. Maarten,” Witteveen says.“We’ve got boats almost daily, planes daily, and a 20-minute boat to Anguilla every half hour. But once you’re in Saba or Statia, weekly sailings can be the difference between a one-day fix and a one-week delay.” THE ISLAND CHALLENGE: PLAN DEEP, MOVE FAST, IMPROVISE SMART Building on small islands means constraints— parts aren’t around the corner, immigration and tax regimes differ by island, and subsurface and marine works always surprise. • Availability: Specialty parts or materials often aren’t on-island; even on St. Maarten, lead times are longer than on the mainland. • Transport windows: Saba/Statia sailings are weekly; miss Tuesday’s ship and you can lose a week. • Rulesets: Saba and St. Eustatius are special Dutch municipalities with different immigration, tax, and labor rules than St. Maarten/Anguilla— Windward Roads navigates three countries’ frameworks across four islands. • Subsurface risk: “Go into the ground or underwater and you’ll find what you didn’t plan,” Witteveen says. “That’s normal here. So preparation is everything.” CAPABILITIES THAT CHANGE DELIVERY MATH Windward Roads built in-house capacity where it matters most to island infrastructure: 27 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 12, ISSUE 10 WINDWARD ROADS INFRASTRUCTURE
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