PHILIPSBURG – The Common Court of Justice has ordered insurance company Nagico to pay close to $499,000 to a local company for a traffic accident that took place in 2000 on the French side. The court ruled that the limitation clause in Nagico’s car insurance policies is invalid on French territory. Car insurance in cheaper on the Dutch side of St. Maarten, mainly because Nagico has limited its liability to 90,000 guilders. That clause does not hold up if someone with a Dutch-side insurance gets involved in an accident on the French side, it appears from the November 16 court…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — An 18 year old St. Maarten Academy student nearly lost his life while trying to get off a school bus when he was hit by a car traveling at high speed on Bishop Hill Road at about 6:30 on Tuesday morning. The female bus driver when questioned said that she had deployed the stop sign and the flashing lights to indicate that she was stopping. “I had pulled the bus diagonally across the road as it is done, to allow the students to enter safely. However the driver of the white Getz who was traveling very fast tried…
CAY HILL — St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) is inviting companies to pre-register for World Bank funded projects that will be up for public tenders and will be published shortly via SMMC’s website. SMMC has recently signed an agreement to receive a USD 25 million grant from the St. Maarten Recovery, Reconstruction and Resilience Trust Fund that is funded by The Netherlands and managed by the World Bank. The grant will serve to improve services of the current hospital, while the new hospital is being built, and to upgrade the design of the new hospital to withstand category 5+ hurricanes.…
STATIA/ PHILIPSBURG—The judge in the Court of First Instance will hand out a decision in the hearing of the two cases presented by the people of St. Eustatius on December 11, 2018. According to reports on the hearing that was held in St. Eustatius on Tuesday November 20, the case of the Dutch law superseding international law which led to “the removal of the democratically elected government” and the injunction with regard to the removal Dutch representatives that was placed in the government were heard by the judge. During the hearing Clyde van Putten of St. Eustatius presented an eleven…
Willemstad/Philipsburg – Recently, the Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten (CBCS) presented its Strategic Plan to the stakeholders in Sint Maarten. The Governor of Sint Maarten, as well as the government, representatives from the financial sector, and advisory bodies were invited to attend the presentation. The new strategy of the CBCS has 3 focus areas: the monetary stability of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, a stable and competitive financial sector and the development of a customer-friendly and innovative organization. These focus areas have been further developed in several strategic goals for the period 2018-2020. In her presentation, Mrs. Leila Matroos-Lasten,…
PHILIPSBURG — During an urgent meeting of Parliament on Monday, November 19, where the Minister of TEATT, Stuart Johnson together with management and staff of the PJIA Airport and the Harbor Group of Companies (Port) gave an update on the status of these two major ports for St. Maarten, member of Parliament Claude ‘Chacho” Peterson asked the question many people have been wondering: “Who is André Wright?” The MP wanted to know whether Wright was a consultant with the airport, if he is receiving a monthly retainer fee, what was his fee for the refinancing of the old loan and…
~ Fifty season passes up for grabs for Carnival-50 ~ PHILIPSBURG—The Golden Box has been launched at the Government Administration Building, and the entire island is invited to fill in their Carnival Pass raffle forms and drop them in the box for a chance to win one of fifty (50) season passes for Carnival-50, next year. The Honourable Stuart Johnson, Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Traffic & Telecommunication (TEATT), joined Interim Director of the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau (STB), in launching the special Carnival Promotion designed to encourage local participation. Following the launch Minister Johnson also stated that persons can…
By Political Analyst, Julio R, Romney The Court of First Instance in Philipsburg is scheduled (on Tuesday, November 20, 2018) to hear open arguments from the dissolved insular Government of Sint Eustatius which was taken into receivership on February 7, 2018 by its Central Government – The Government of the Netherlands. The dissolved Government officials are of the opinion that the Government of the Netherlands infringed on Statia’s “right to a full measure of self-government” as established by the United Nations and further concluded that the action of the Netherlands is in violation of international law as indicated by the…
AIRPORT – An external financier that is active in the field of airport financing around the world is offering PJIA Airport the possibility of financing to the tune of $260 million US Dollars. This would provide the airport company with the much needed financial support and alleviation for their rehabilitation plans of the airport terminal building. Presently, the refurbishing of the ground floor level of the terminal building is well on its way to be fully operational by January 1st, 2019. With the recent official news from the World Bank and the rumors that the Dutch want to take over…
PHILIPSBURG – It is not like the Netherlands wants to take over the complete management of the airport in exchange for financing of the airport’s rehabilitation, but the Dutch do want to have somebody on the inside. This appears from a report by the World Bank. The “vital rehabilitation” of the airport, improved governance and “measures that will strengthen the airport’s ability to function resiliently in the future” all cost money. According to the World Bank, St. Maarten has made a commitment to make these measures a reality. While Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin recently denied that the Netherlands will take…
