repeat,”Witteveen says.“That only happens if you keep surprises low and communication high.” RECENT AND UPCOMING WORK With so many competing projects, Witteveen highlights some of the more significant ones to emphasize the scale and importance of the projects the company is undertaking: • Statia (St. Eustatius) – “Blue Circle” drainage: Island-wide stormwater improvements to guide rainwater safely off a cliff-edge historic town and reduce erosion risk.“It’s a safety project as much as infra,” Witteveen says. • St. Maarten – Airport asphalt: Taxiway resurfacing and forthcoming runway works in staged sequences to protect operations. • St. Maarten –Vie L’ven resort siteworks: Early and upcoming packages for a planned ~230-key, fivestar-plus resort by North American investors— bringing a higher tier of hospitality quality to the island (including plans for a Michelin-starred restaurant). “It’s a new bar for local tourism,” Witteveen notes. LOGISTICS AS A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE Because every out-island job runs through the St. Maarten hub,Windward Roads treats customs,staging, and shipping like critical scope—not overhead. The firm sequences containers, consolidates local buys, and pads contingencies around weekly sailings and airfreight limits. Small islands magnify small misses: a part that’s a same-day courier elsewhere can be a seven-day slip in Saba.“We plan so that one missed ship doesn’t sink the program,” Witteveen says. SUSTAINABILITY: PUSHING THE CURVE, ISLAND BY ISLAND Windward Roads is leaning into circularity and decarbonization—areas where small islands often lag due to scale and Witteveen points specifically to: • Solar: Installed arrays on facilities, with more projects queued. • Fleet: Electric cars for corporate use—unusual for the island construction sector. • Recycling: Crushing of concrete for reuse; 32 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 12, ISSUE 10
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTI5MjAx