PHILIPSBURG – St. Maarten will get around €40 million ($47.6 million at the current rate of exchange) financial support from the Netherlands for its 2017 budget, State Secretary Raymond Knops (Kingdom Relations) said at a press conference on Monday afternoon, but he did not say anything on support from the 2018 budget that will face an even greater deficit.
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – Employees of the Post Office marched to the government administration building on Monday morning in an attempt to get government support for the payment of their November salaries. The chairman of the board, Stuart Johnson, manager Antonia Wilson and the President of the St. Maarten Communication Union, Ludson Evers, did not get an immediate audience with interim Prime Minister Rafael Boasman, because he was in talks with the Dutch State Secretary Raymond Knops. Photo caption: Ludson Evers (center) on the phone with a representative of Prime Minister Boasman’s office. Left is Antonia Wilson, right Stuart Johnson. Photo by…
EDE, The Netherlands — On Wednesday, November 22, 2017, Dutch real estate developer Tom Westermeijer (79) passed away after a short illness. He leaves to mourn his wife, Jannie, and three sons, Johan and Leo & Tom (twins). He came to St. Maarten in the late 1970’s and fell in love with the Island. So much so that he made use of his real estate developer’s ability to purchase and develop a large piece of property immediately next to the present Divi Little Bay Beach Resort. His plan was to build a multi-million dollar complex unique to the Caribbean. Unfortunately,…
Dear Editor, It is still sometimes hard to imagine that the people of St. Maarten has to endure more political instability, this time in the aftermath of a devastating storm. One would think that we would have found a way to put petty differences aside and focus solely on rebuilding St. Maarten and ensuring a decent quality of life for our people. While most people expected this, a very small group saw the hurricane as an opportunity. An opportunity to exploit an emergency situation for power. An opportunity to emotionally manipulate the population when the population is at its most…
Philipsburg –The Ministry of VROMI has been working diligently with the processing of salvaging permits. Thus far 90 salvaging permits have been given between the two companies Aquatic Solutions NV and Seacure Marine Construction. VROMI understands the severity of the state of the Simpson Bay lagoon but also needs to make sure that companies working have the proper documentation in place. There was some confusion post hurricanes Irma and Maria pertaining to salvaging wrecks and the barge “Titan” that was brought by Marine Management & Consulting (MMC). Chairlady Sarah Wescott Williams brought the barge to the attention of the coalition…
Philipsburg — A recently published story whereby Minister Lee was accused of using government fuel bonds to purchase fuel for personal use and misusing government number plate by a blog website is mistaken. “Sadly instead of investing time and energy into rebuilding the country, it appears that efforts will continue to be wasted blaming others and continued attempts at character assassination. I believe this is a sad attempt to discredit, delay or interfere with the screening process for a candidate minister. Unfortunately, I expect that these attacks will continue but I won’t let them distract my attention from the true…
Simpson Bay — On Saturday afternoon, November 25th, 2017, around 4pm, a driver lost control over a cement truck coming down the hill on Peridot Road in Simpson Bay opposite Green House restaurant when the brakes apparently gave out. The cement truck tumbled down the road and ended up on its side wedged between the parkinglot of Greenhouse and the opposite side of the road, as can be seen in the photos below. Whether the driver managed to do this on purpose is at this time is unknown. Fact remains that a considerable disaster has been averted by this result.…
THE HAGUE – What happened on Friday in the Kingdom Council of Ministers to remove St. Maarten’s Prime Minister William Marlin from office is “at least close to the limits of what is legally admissible in our democracy,” says professor Gerhard Hoogers, a senior lecturer constitutional law at the National University Groningen and an honorary professor in comparative constitutional law at the Carl von Ossietzky-University of Oldenburg. Under enormous pressure from the Netherlands, Prime Minister Marlin decided on Friday immediately after the decision to step down, John Samson reports on Caribisch Netwerk. The parliament passed not once, but twice a…
GREAT BAY — Leader of the United St. Maarten (US) party MP Frans Richardson on Sunday said that anyone rejoicing over the unprecedented moves by the Dutch government to oust Prime Minister William Marlin is condoning a dangerous, self-defeating precedent that will be used again against St. Maarten. “We have our differences, we have our disagreements but to give our approval to the systematic dismantling of our processes and our people is self-defeating.” The MP said the divide and conquer tactics of the Dutch is on full display, with Dutch Prime Minister Rutte “boldly” claiming that 90% of the population…
Sint Maarten’s Most Important Wetland ~ Simpson Bay — One of Sint Maarten’s most important wetlands, Mullet Pond, was cleaned and restored by the Sint Maarten Nature Foundation as a part of the organization’s environmental response post hurricanes Irma and Maria. Mullet Pond is listed as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Treaty. The Ramsar Convention, signed in Iran in 1971, is a global commitment to maintain the ecological character of global wetland areas, including in the wider Caribbean region. “Using the disaster relief funds provided to us by the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance we were able to…
