BONAIRE-GEBE Managing Director, ir. William Brooks, met with BES Commissioner for the Netherlands, Henk Kamp, on Thursday, April 2, 2009, along with other members of the Water Platform Netherlands Antilles, Aruba & Suriname (WNNA) to discuss the developments of the transition from the Netherlands Antilles to the BES islands and country St. Maarten and the impact on the electricity and water supply for Bonaire, Saba and Statia.The goal of the meeting was to introduce the utility companies of Saba, Statia and Bonaire as well as the Water Platform of the Netherlands Antilles and discuss some of the challenges that will be faced in the transition.
In the new structure, St. Maarten would receive country status, whereas Saba and Statia would become public entities of the Netherlands and form part of the BES islands along with Bonaire. Since NV GEBE is a publicly owned company of which 100% of the shares are jointly owned by its Shareholders Foundation on behalf of the Island Governments of St. Maarten, Saba and Statia, the ownership of the company and the continuity of operations in Saba and Statia would need to be addressed.
"We met our objective in this introduction meeting with Mr. Kamp in regards to the transition to the BES islands," stated Brooks, "GEBE and the Water Platform need to be proactive in investigating the impacts and addressing the challenges the islands of Saba, Statia and Bonaire will be faced with in regards to electricity and water production and distribution."