GREAT BAY--Member of Parliament Egbert Doran has described Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure Patrice Gumbs as the greatest obstacle currently facing the Ministry of VROMI, citing stalled projects, delayed permits, declining revenue collection and unresolved personnel matters.
“The biggest hurdle facing the Ministry of VROMI right now is the Minister of VROMI,” Doran said during an interview on Power 102.7’s Breakfast Lounge with Lady Grace. “The Minister of VROMI is the biggest hurdle facing the ministry right now, and sometimes you have to acknowledge and call a spade a spade.”
Doran made the remarks after the interviewer referenced the Ombudsman’s 2025 report and said VROMI recorded the highest number of ministry-related investigations, with 21 cases. The discussion also raised concerns about communication and reported staff shortages within the ministry.
The MP said Minister Gumbs had failed to accept responsibility for several problems affecting VROMI’s operations, including the handling of garbage collection and roadside-cleaning contracts.
Doran alleged that more than 150 roadside-cleaning workers were sent home on April 1 and questioned why a replacement tender had not yet been presented He also criticized the failed garbage tender process, under which none of the submitted bids qualified.
“All the people that bid for garbage were wrong. All of them came in, nobody qualified. If the whole class fails, the teacher has to go,” Doran said, accusing the minister of accepting no accountability for the outcome.
According to Doran, the removal of the roadside-cleaning workers has contributed to deteriorating conditions in several districts. He specifically referred to Dutch Quarter, St. Peters, Belvedere and Bishop Hill, while saying only limited cosmetic work appeared to be taking place in some other areas.
Doran also raised concerns about the processing of building permits and business licences. He said residents and developers were increasingly being forced to approach the courts to obtain decisions on building-permit applications.
“People are going to court every minute to get a building permit approved. So the court becomes VROMI,” he said.
He argued that the delays were also affecting business-licence applications and preventing people from advancing investments and economic activity.
Long lease revenue
Doran questioned the performance of VROMI in collecting outstanding long lease payments, particularly from large businesses.
He said that while he served as VROMI Minister, a joint task force involving VROMI and the Ministry of Finance was established to pursue long-outstanding lease payments from businesses that had reportedly failed to pay for periods of 17 or 18 years.
According to Doran, the task force was later dismantled after the current government concluded that it was ineffective.
He claimed annual long lease collections stood at approximately 3 million guilders before his tenure, increased to 4.9 million in 2020 and remained above 5 million during 2021 and 2022. He said collections reached approximately 8.4 million guilders in 2023, his final full calendar year as minister.
Doran said he had been informed that collections may have fallen to approximately 3 million guilders again, but acknowledged that he did not have the latest official figures and invited government to correct him if his information was inaccurate.
Sewage connection project
The MP also questioned why a sewage home-connection project that he said was ready to begin before he left office had not moved forward.
Doran estimated that the project represented approximately 15 million guilders in annual activity and would have created opportunities for construction companies, subcontractors and workers.
He said the continued delay had prevented the country from receiving the environmental, infrastructural and economic benefits connected to the project.
Road funding and side-road projects
Doran claimed he left approximately 8 million guilders available for road improvements and said more than 2 million guilders appeared to remain unspent.
He questioned which substantial road projects had been completed with the funding and criticized the decision to convert a Philipsburg street into a one-way route, arguing that the change had reduced available traffic options and contributed to greater congestion.
The MP also referred to a project intended to pave approximately 40 side roads across St. Maarten. He said the project had already been approved before he left office but was halted for approximately nine months.
According to Doran, the project should have been completed more than a year ago, while some roads in Cole Bay near the Salvation Army remained unfinished at the time of the interview.
Senior civil servants at home
Doran further criticized the handling of two senior civil servants whom he identified as experienced department heads and engineers.
He alleged that the officials remained at home while continuing to receive their salaries and had not been provided with proper decrees explaining their status.
Doran said government was paying other individuals to perform work assigned to the civil servants while the original employees remained at home awaiting a decision.
He estimated that the arrangement had cost government more than one million guilders, although no supporting financial documentation was presented during the interview.
“You have them home now, paying somebody else to do the job that you are paying them to do, and they are home waiting to hear what direction we’re going,” Doran said.
He described the situation within VROMI as chaotic and accused the ministry’s leadership of dismissing or discrediting criticism instead of responding to concerns and correcting problems.
Doran said VROMI is responsible for areas that directly affect residents, businesses, employment and the country’s physical development. He argued that continued delays in permits, sanitation, road maintenance, sewage infrastructure and revenue collection were therefore having consequences beyond the ministry itself.
The MP called for greater accountability from Minister Gumbs and urged government to provide the public with updated information on the garbage and roadside-cleaning tenders, long lease collections, road-project balances, the sewage connection program and the status of the senior civil servants.
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