PHILIPSBURG – Last week, Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin and Minister of Finance Perry Geerlings travelled to the Netherlands to successfully negotiate and secure a bridge loan amounting up to 15 million US dollars to ensure that the airport can continue to pay its salaries and fulfil its other financial obligations in the coming months. This financial assistance was urgently requested by the airport and is linked with the 100 million US dollars that the Council of Ministers has secured for the reconstruction of the airport through the World Bank and the European Investment Bank. Upon her return from the Netherlands,…
Author: The Publisher
Philipsburg, January 18, 2019 –According to internal policy and international EASA standards both Air France and KLM were obliged to perform the Codeshare renewal audit at Winair. This audit must be done Bi-annually. With an audit team of 6 auditors the audit was performed according to the ICAO standards and all operational areas, security and the functioning of the Safety Management System were audited from January 14th- 18th 2019. Although a joint audit it seems logical Air France and KLM have to perform the audits under their own responsibility to ensure a safe and compliant operation for their codeshare passengers. The…
~ Consultations Should Always Be With End Goal In Mind ~ Philipsburg St. Maarten, January 18, 2019 – “I wish to again congratulate all of the persons who contributed to the success of the Interparliamentary Kingdom Consultations (IPKO) held on St. Maarten during the week of January 7th, 2019. Nonetheless the debate continues with the question, does IPKO have any added value? I believe it does.” stated President of Parliament, Sarah Wescot-Williams. The IPKO, formerly under different names, dates back prior to Suriname’s independence in 1975. “So, the fact that after so many years, the desire to come together as…
Philipsburg — From 21 January 2019, a team from the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) will travel to Sint Maarten for a period of 2 weeks, to assist the government (VROMI) to assess the potential health risks for the community in relation to landfill fires. Frequent landfill fires in the recent past have been the subject of many complaints from various sectors of the community affected by the smoke. RIVM’s Environmental Incident Service has specialised equipment for taking measurements and samples. RIVM intends to use these to advise whether substances released from the fires may…
PHILIPSBURG—There has been an increase of students applying for study financing this year. According the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Wycliffe Smith although some 267 students have applied only 109 have completed the applications with all the supporting documents that are required. Although it was not reported the disciplines that the students have chosen the Netherlands were chosen by some 67 students as the places for their higher education. The United States and Canada fell into second and third place while St. Maarten and the United Kingdom were chosen by some other students. Other places were the ABC…
PHILIPSBURG — Some 40 students from various high schools have been nominated to receive the Kings and Queens’s awards by the Gifted Foundation. These students who have been making positive and outstanding contributions to their schools and communities in areas such as academics, athletics, community service, expressive arts and leadership, shows that there are focused youth on the island said Minister of Education Wycliffe Smith. “This is a good reminder at this time when negative news seem to be bombarding us especially as it relates to our young people,” said Smith. He mentioned that the awards should be shared and…
By Hilbert Haar There is no doubt that financial supervision is useful. St. Maarten agreed to this supervision when it obtained country status in 2010. The question is now: did financial supervision improve our country’s financial situation? Given the quandary St. Maarten finds itself in after Hurricane Irma it is tempting to answer this question with a full-blown no. And it is true, financial supervision did not perform miracles and the Board financial supervision (Cft) seems at times more like a paper tiger than a strict authority that keeps our sweet Sint Maarten land on the straight and narrow. One…
PHILIPSBURG – St. Maarten and Curacao will remain under financial supervision until at least 2021. The committee that evaluated the countries’ level of compliance with the Kingdom law financial supervision writes this in its report that was sent to the Second Chamber in The Hague on Monday, January 16. “Steunend op eigen kracht maar het de wil elkander bij te staan” is the title the committee gave to its report. The quote, meaning: “Relying on our own strength but with the preparedness to support each other” stems from a speech former Queen Juliana made on Radio Oranje on December 6,…
By Hilbert Haar Insel Air is one step away from bankruptcy. That much is clear from the recent ruling by the Court in First Instance that withheld its approval from the homologation accord with the airline’s creditors. In December all seemed to look still fine and dandy. Intercaribbean, the Turks and Caicos-based airline founded by Lyndon Gardiner in 1991, offered to finance the agreement to the tune of $11 million. In exchange, Intercaribbean would acquire the shares of Insel Air. But somehow between that court ruling in December and the deadline for Intercaribbean to present a guarantee for its promises…
PHILIPSBURG – Troubled airline Insel Air came one step closer to bankruptcy this week after the Court in First Instance withheld its approval of the so-called homologation agreement with its creditors. Intercaribbean, the Turks and Caicos-based airline that is willing to extend a credit of more than $11 million in exchange for the Insel Air shares has so far not satisfied the court with a solid guarantee that it will indeed makes these funds available. Intercaribbean, founded by Lyndon Gardiner in 1991, considers appealing the court ruling. The creditors reached an agreement with Insel Air in December of last year.…
