PHILIPSBURG — The debate in the Central Committee on Wednesday about the situation at the Pointe Blanche Prison and the Police Force turned into a frontal attack on the Dutch government, the Progress Committee and financial supervisor Cft. All this came on the heels of the question hour in the Dutch parliament on Tuesday where Minister Sander Dekker (Legal Protection) said that Justice Minister Cornelius de Weever frustrated offers to help from The Netherlands. It didn’t help that Dekker saw fit to refer to the guarantee function in the Kingdom Charter: “If there is insufficient progress (with the conditions at…
Author: The Publisher
Another case and a perfect example highlighting the fact that we are a young Constitutional State yet only in our infancy stage and we are to learn, adapt and grow as we go. Where our Constitution failed to elaborate on procedures for certain processes, it was expected that wise heads, legal minds and mature politicians would solve any constitutional dilemmas that rise up from the ambiguities that can occur in our laws and guidelines that govern us as a country. Fortunately, there is no need for a panic in the case at hand with a 14-member Parliament. The Constitution simply…
PHILIPSBURG — St. Maarten is now closer to providing pre-clearance for aircrafts to the United States of America at the Princess Juliana International Airport, said Minister responsible for Tourism Stuart Johnson at the Council of Ministers press conference on Wednesday. He said that he only recently met with representatives of the pre-clearance committee and the officials of the Princess Juliana International Airport and the Council of Ministers. The discussions included some of the pending concerns that needed to be addressed such as the extension of the concessions which falls under the Tourism Ministry. There is also a draft bi-lateral agreement…
PHILIPSBURG — The Minister of Health Emil Lee is defending the increase for procedures at the St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC). Minister Lee, speaking at the Council of Ministers press conference on Wednesday, March 6, 2019, said that the rates at the institution are 36 percent less than what the St. Elizabeth Hospital in Curacao is charging today. “The adjustment is fair compensation for services that has allowed us to bring in Neurology Department in 2017, the Eye Care Department in 2018 and of this month we will have Orthopedics and a test phase for Neurology and Pulmonology,” said Lee.…
~ Plans to return to St. Maarten to join notary office ~ Philipsburg, St. Maarten – Keisha Richards, a former HAVO student of Milton Peters College in St. Maarten, is expected to become a new addition to one of the notary offices in St. Maarten. This after her recent obtaining of her masters degree in Notary Law at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. The young Richards obtained her masters degree after defending her thesis ‘Limitations of the misuse of the Private Fund Foundation and the Trust’. With Prof. dr. Frans Sonneveldt of the Law faculty at Leiden University…
CUL DE SAC, St. MAARTEN (March 5, 2019) – Lush green hills and cool breezes are signature elements of nature at the Kenepa Garden Estate, a new private residential development by M & M Development N.V. The 29 lots are located behind Emilio Wilson Historical and Cultural Park just off of L.B. Scott Road and adjacent to St. John’s Estate. A symbolic ground-breaking ceremony was held on Tuesday, March 5, when six-year-old Ocean Brookson Frigon, grandson of developer Henri Brookson, deftly maneuvered a backhoe to move dirt at the site, to the cheers of his family and guests. The development…
By Hilbert Haar During the groundbreaking ceremony for the new hospital, in early December 2018, everything seemed to be nice and dandy. Alesandro Cambri of contractor INSO was present at this photo opportunity where many dignitaries posed with shovels in front of an excavator and where St. Maarten Medical Center Director Kees Klarenbeek declared that construction would begin in March 2019 – which is like, now. But as these things go with huge projects, dark clouds are hanging over INSO, the Italian contractor that beat Vamed in the tender process. Its parent company Condotte is in financial trouble and INSO…
PHILIPSBURG — United Democrats MP Luc Mercelina remains highly critical of the plan for the new hospital and of the intention to introduce a general health insurance scheme. “It is a fundamental error to base decisions for the hospital on a business plan,” Mercelina said. “A general health insurance is only sustainable if you have huge numbers. This is not possible based on a population of 40,000.” Mercelina said, not for the first time, that a large proportion of the population is illegal. He mentioned a number of 10,000 illegals. “They put pressure on an unsustainable social system, he warned.…
PHILIPSBURG – A new tender for the construction of St. Maarten’s General Hospital is a real possibility it appeared during Monday’s meeting of Parliament about the financing of this prestigious project. The lenders – among them the general pension fund APS and social and health insurances SZV – are still doing their due diligence to determine whether the Italian contractor INSO remains a viable partner to execute the construction and to take care of maintenance. Currently, the lenders are “not convinced,” St. Maarten Medical Center’s director Kees Klarenbeek said. Members of Parliament Ardwell Irion and Christophe Emmanuel (both National Alliance)…
PHILIPSBURG – The new general hospital is a non-profit organization that aims to realize just 1.5 percent profit on top of costs to enable future investments, St. Maarten Medical Center director Kees Klarenbeek told parliament in a meeting on Monday afternoon. Klarenbeek also highlighted the need to increase the hospital tariffs by a seemingly astonishing 41.83 percent. He showed that medical costs have outpaced inflation over the past three years. In 2017 costs went up 8.2 percent while inflation was 2.8 percent. In 2018 medical care became 8.2 percent more expensive against an inflation rate of 3.1 percent. For this…
