PHILIPSBURG – United St. Maarten party MP Frans Richardson suggested that during a central committee meeting on Tuesday that GEBE establish a new company for the production of renewable energy and give the people of St. Maarten the opportunity to participate in it. “People would love to get a return on investment in their own country,” the MP said. Richardson also asked what the possibilities are for local banks to finance Gebe’s needs. He furthermore addressed the issue of renewable energy. “How far is Gebe with its plan for that 4 Megawatt solar park? It is time for Gebe to…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – Utilities company GEBE is looking for a new insurance broker after it found out that its pre-Irma insurance covered damages caused by hail and snow but not damages caused by wind speed, the company’s chief Financial Officer, Iris Arrindell told a stunned parliamentary central committee on Tuesday afternoon. In spite of this rather awkward revelation, Gebe’s management team – consisting next to Arrindell of Chief Executive Officer Kendrick Chittick and Chief Operation Officer Veronica Jansen-Webster – received little criticism from parliamentarians who showered the managers and Vromi-minister Miklos Giterson with questions (see related story). The meeting will continue…
PHILIPSBURG – The central committee of parliament devoted a bit more than an hour to the continuation of a meeting that was held exactly a year ago on Tuesday. Topic of the meeting was the purchase of Cable TV by telecom provider TelEm and the subsequent dismissal of Cable TV personnel. To the chagrin of MP Frans Richardson (United St. Maarten party) only Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin showed up as the shareholder representative for TelEm. Richardson would have wanted to see the Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication, Stuart Johnson, in this meeting as well. Romeo-Marlin told the…
By Hilbert Haar Come Thursday, the unity of the governing coalition of United Democrats and the St. Maarten Christian Party will be put to the test. If everybody shows up and toes the party line, the motion of no confidence tabled by the opposition will fail. For the country, that would be a piece of good news because with the exception of the National Alliance and the United St. Maarten party nobody is waiting for another change of the guard. The tactics of the opposition are on a certain level quite mysterious. On January 21, NA-MP Emmanuel announced a motion…
PHILIPSBURG – Opposition parties National Alliance (NA) and United St. Maarten party (USp) launched a frontal attack on the position of Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin on Monday afternoon during the continuation of a parliament-meeting about the financing of reconstruction efforts at the Princess Juliana International Airport. After NA-MP William Marlin read the motion, parliament’s president MP Sarah Wescot-Williams adjourned the meeting until Thursday afternoon – a move perceived by some as a delaying tactic. Formally, the adjournment is designed to give ministers the opportunity to formulate answers to questions posed by members of parliament. The motion was signed by all…
PHILIPSBURG – Opposition members of parliament were firing on all cylinders during Monday afternoon’s continued meeting about the financing agreement for the airport-reconstruction. Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin and Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Stuart Johnson were on the receiving end of their at times vicious remarks that culminated in a motion of no-confidence against the prime minister (see related article). The prime minister opened the floor, providing answers to questions posed by MPs during a meeting on January 21. Management and board of the airport fully support the financing plan that offers a $50 million grant to the government…
Philipsburg, St. Maarten, February 4, 2019 – Amidst reports of accomplishments by the Government of St. Maarten as far as the Trust Fund is concerned, the debate continues as to the speed or lack there-of in the entire process of financing of the reconstruction on St. Maarten via the World Bank. We have had reports regarding the progress, the pace and the accomplishments. Just recently someone wrote an article and compared the World Bank structure on St. Maarten for the reconstruction as “Met een kanon op een mug schieten”. This could be freely translated into “cracking nuts with a sledge…
PHILIPSBURG — World Travel Awards™ was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all key sectors of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. Today, the World Travel Awards™ brand is recognized globally as the ultimate hallmark of industry excellence. World Travel Awards™ gala ceremonies are regarded as milestone events in the industry calendar, attended by the industry’s key decision makers and figure heads, as well as key trade and consumer media. The 2019 Caribbean & North America Gala Ceremony was held on Monday January 28, 2019 at the Sandals Montego bay, Jamaica. With hundreds of contenders vying…
PHILIPSBURG — “Okay, then you start the emergency regulation.” With those words Hushang Ansary, the 93-year old Persian-American major shareholder of Parman International BV walked out of a meeting with the Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten on June 21, 2018. The meeting was about a plan to solve problems at insurance company ENNIA but Ansary refused to support this plan. A day later, Ennia Caribe Investments moved $100 million to Parman Enterprises LLC, an Ansary-controlled entity outside of the Ennia group of companies. All this appears from a ruling by the Court in First Instance in Curacao about…
WILLEMSTAD – Insurance company Ennia will get access to the approximately $124 million held in accounts at Merrill Lynch in New York, United States Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn ruled this week. Hushang Ansary, the major shareholder of Parman International, the company that controlled Ennia until the Central bank of Curacao and St. Maarten issued emergency measures last year, fought in vain against the release of these funds in the United States Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York. Judge Glenn ruled this week that “the potential harm to Parman is far outweighed by the harm that would be…
