With the withdrawal of the award for Southdrain to Apoera, the government is taking a step back to start over. The government is choosing not to appeal the Aug. 5 ruling by Subdistrict Judge Rewita Chatterpal, which declared the award of the work worth forty-five million U.S. dollars to Shiwan Tushan Suriname N.V. invalid and demands a new tender. It remains unclear when a retender will follow. Competitor Baitali N.V., which competed with a seventeen million lower bid, reports it has been talking with the state since 2020 about design, construction and even pre-financing. The company simultaneously points to a similar verdict around the Van 't Hogerhuysstraat, where Baitali says execution is stalled by the stance of the Inter-American Development Bank.
In the same week, another long-running bill is on the agenda, as Billiton pensioners knock on the door of The National Assembly and the president with complaints about the PFAMS pension fund. They recall that they paid sixteen percent contributions for years and ask for clarity on a plot in Vredenburg, which was purchased in 2015 for thirteen and a half million U.S. dollars when the valuation was one and a half million. They signal that five years of court proceedings are going on with no prospect of results, that some of the funds are abroad and that new elections for the fund board have been called, despite previous interventions by the Central Bank. Meanwhile, since 2024, about 70 pensioners have died without seeing relief. Parliament Speaker Ashwin Adhin and the president promise to look into the matter thoroughly.
The dossier of political representation is also taking on new weight. The Association of Indigenous Village Chiefs is offering a resolution to the Speaker of The National Assembly at a mini-conference Sept. one through three. Villages speak of 50 years of invisibility and of increasing pressure from land grants, pollution and loss of biodiversity. They call for legal entrenchment of collective rights, recognition of traditional governance and involvement in decisions on climate, forest management, oil, gas and carbon markets. Adhin says to have each point worked out so that legislation to provide protection can finally land.
In the area of natural resources, Minister David Abiamofo outlines that on the rivers skalians will not be tolerated and on and around the Blommenstein reservoir only regulated activities will take place. He looks back on a decline from more than 20 vessels to three or four by 2023. Action remains difficult due to low on-site presence, so the public prosecutor's office is called in. Small-scale mining often involves village communities, which requires additional dialogue to prevent cratering and unsafe situations.
Data as a foundation for policy are getting closer through the sixth agricultural census, which is visibly progressing, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, in cooperation with FAO. The team led by Maxime Luciene reports that processing and analysis are underway and that the efforts of Surinamese staff are convincing. This can lay the groundwork for better choices on food security, climate resilience and producer support.
Within administration and enforcement, staffing shifts. Customs chief Charda Girwar is being relieved, having been formally appointed in January of last year, along with the head of the Inland Revenue Department. A reason was not disclosed. The government says decisions in this area are part of the effort to make the civil service more effective.
On the social front, a distress signal is sounding around teenage pregnancy. Minister Lalini Gopal points to alarming cases in districts such as Brokopondo and Sipaliwini and in urban neighborhoods such as Latour and Flora, where girls as young as twelve become pregnant and sixteen-year-olds sometimes begin their second or third child. The ministry is committed to education and counseling. Legal experts stress that the legal frameworks around protection of minors and the criminality of abortion and fornication are inseparable parts of the approach and thus cannot be left unaddressed.
Natio opens the fourth group of Concacaf qualification with a scoreless draw against Panama, in which goalkeeper Etienne Vaessen excels and Denzel Jubitana hits the crossbar. After halftime, the team showed itself stronger. The road to the matches against El Salvador and Guatemala is open. The group winner qualifies directly for the world championships, while the best runner-up has a chance of winning the intercontinental playoffs. Suriname has not advanced this far in a World Cup trail since 1978.
