Draft law to write off hospital’s
NAf. 11m debt before Parliament
WILLEMSTAD--The Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles will debate during its next week of meetings in Bonaire a draft law to write off the NAf. 11 million debt of St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) to the Central Government.
National Alliance Member of Parliament Frans Richardson said the party fully supported the draft law, which was sent to Parliament yesterday.
The decision to write off the debt goes back to the 2004-2006 governing period of former prime minister Etienne Ys. He drafted an Urgency Programme that was backed by the Dutch Government. To help the financial position of the Netherlands Antilles, the Dutch Government decided to write off 52.5 million euros in outstanding debts and unpaid interest on debts.
One of the debts the Dutch wrote off was the money the Central Government had borrowed on behalf of St. Maarten Medical Center Property Owning Foundation. However, this did not mean that the debt the foundation owed to the Central Government was written off automatically.
The draft law to write off the debt of the foundation to the Central Government was sent to Parliament and will be put on the agenda for the next week of meetings of Parliament, which will be in Bonaire.
Richardson said this was a continuation of the many things with which this government supported by the National Alliance had been dealing in preparing for the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles.
He said writing off the debt, calculated till December 31, 2004, at more than NAf. 11 million, would be a big help for SMMC. The financial relief for the institution will be to the benefit of the people of St. Maarten, he said.
