Oranjestad- Minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen yesterday officially kicked off the start of the road rehabilitation project in St. Eustatius.

According to information from our colleagues at Koninkrijksrelaties.nu, a total sum of 1.8 million Euros have been made available for the Cherry Road tree project. Under the project a total of 5 dirt roads will be surfaced for a total length of 1.5 kilometers.

Minister Van Nieuwenhuizen said that she was happy about the fact that a Dutch contractor, together with local counter parts would be responsible for the execution of the project. The minister also said that this was but the first of more projects to come.

“We want to address more areas so that there is a good connection to the main road on the island”, said Van Nieuwenhuizen. In total The Netherlands has made 7.6 million Euros available for road rehabilitation on Statia.

The Minister also got a first hand look at the situation of the land erosion near the FDR Airport runway and in Lower Town. According to the Minister there is no less than 17 million available for measures to address the corrosion that is severely threatening the islands coastline.