How much is enough?
According to experts in the field, the recently published Economic Outlook’s prediction that the real estate prices of 2006 will again rise this year, has already come to be. Prices have continued to rise, despite what appears an endless number of accommodation projects either completed, under construction or in the planning.
As long as there are people, and especially well-off visitors, willing to pay the high prices, that will continue to be the case. The problem is that local residents with modest incomes are forced to compete with people from abroad willing to pay a lot to have a place here.
But the boom won’t last forever. There comes a point when supply will exceed demand, also because the island may become so congested that fewer people will want to pay to be here and those who do, will want to pay less. The long-term consequences of that could be more serious in terms of empty buildings and negative financial results than many may realise.
While there are certain solutions involving the road system, in the end St. Maarten will not grow physically and too much continued growth will put undue pressure on its infrastructure, including its utilities, garbage collection, education, health care and social services. This, not only because of the increasing number of visitors especially during the high season, but because all these projects require labour, during construction as well as after completion, which the island is simply not able to provide, with the import of more foreign workers and all its social consequences as a result.
There has been much talk about a carrying capacity study and the need for zoning to better control the island’s development, but so far little action. Perhaps the time has come for the private and public sectors to get together and decide, once and for all, what kind of future we want “The Friendly Island” and its people to have.
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