THE HAGUE – MP André Bosman of the VVD and MP Attje Kuiken of the PvDA, want to know why concrete measures have not yet been taken to improve connectivity between the Caribbean islands and make travel between the island more affordable.

The MP’s asked the questions to Minsiter Cora Nieuwenhuizen after news site www.koninkrijk.nu wrote about the lack of (visible) progress on the matter.

The chairman of the Connectivity Expert Group, former KLM director Peter Hartman recently said that the advice for this had meanwhile been offered to the Ministry and that that advice had been ‘positively received’, but after that it had remained silent.

Parliamentary questions

In a series of  questions, Bosman and Kuiken express concern about the (adverse) economic and social consequences of the lack of affordable tickets and other issues that would improve the connectivity between the Dutch Caribbean islands for the residents of the BES-islands. They also wonder how long they have to wait for the minister to provide follow-up to the matter.

The members of parliament suggest the possibility to compensate islanders for the costs they now have to make when it comes to family visits, hospital visits, education or work that make it necessary to travel between the islands.

Parliamentary committee and IPKO

The questions from Bosman and Kuiken are in line with the questions from the standing Parliamentary Committee on Kingdom Affairs during the IPKO Interparliamentary Kingdom Consultation on the connections between the islands.

They want to know whether the minister sees opportunities to reduce the very high costs of transport between Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius, among other things by increasing the number of flights offered by several airlines.