From March 4 to 7, 2024, Alain RICHARDSON, President and CEO of SEMSAMAR (Société d’Économie Mixte pour l’Aménagement, la Gestion et la Construction de Saint-Martin, Anguilla, and Saint-Barthélemy), traveled to French Guiana for a working visit filled with meetings and opportunities.
The main objective of this visit was to reaffirm to local public partners SEMSAMAR’s commitment to opening its capital to French Guiana’s local governments. With 20 years of operations in the region and a significant presence there (a quarter of its workforce and social housing stock), it appears strategically important for the local public company to involve French Guiana’s institutional stakeholders more closely in its governance.
This opening up of the company’s capital would allow local governments in French Guiana to join those of Saint Martin and Guadeloupe as shareholders and thus participate directly in defining SEMSAMAR’s strategic direction in their respective territories.
During his «extremely constructive» meetings, Alain Richardson was able to speak with key elected officials such as Véronique BEUVE, Subprefect of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni; Sophie CHARLES, Mayor of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni and President of the Community of Communes of Western French Guiana; Gilles ADELSON, Mayor of Macouria; Serge SMOCK, President of the CACL Guyane and Mayor of Matoury; and Georges ELFORT, Mayor of Saint-Georges de l’Oyapock and President of the Community of Communes of Eastern French Guiana. He was also received by Keena LEONCE and CHESTER LEONCE, representatives of Gabriel SERVILLE, President of the Territorial Collectivity of French Guiana.
In addition to the capital increase, the purpose of these discussions was to assess the specific expectations of elected officials regarding the projects undertaken by SEMSAMAR in their respective territories and to discuss new projects being considered, both on behalf of local governments and as SEMSAMAR’s own investments.
As a reminder, the year 2024 will mark a symbolic milestone for SEMSAMAR, as it celebrates the 40th anniversary of its founding and the 20th anniversary of its establishment in French Guiana. This local presence is reflected in a 42 million euro investment in 2022, representing more than half of the budget allocated to development and construction projects across all territories.
During this trip, the Chairman and CEO was accompanied by Jean-Luc BENJAMIN, Deputy CEO; Bernard GUERIN, Special Advisor; and Patrick WEIRBACK, Regional Director for French Guiana.
At the conclusion of this tour, Alain Richardson praised the «very warm welcome» extended to his delegation, which he said was a testament to the excellent partnership between SEMSAMAR and local stakeholders in French Guiana. This lays a solid foundation for the imminent acquisition of a stake in the local public company by local governments.