Harbour View — SZV would like to invite all registered employers to visit the Employer Desk to report their post Irma status before Wednesday October 18th. Employers will have the opportunity to fill in the post-Irma survey that SZV is conducting currently in order to gain information of employer’s current financial situation. Payments and declarations of premiums for the months of August and September should be paid and submitted before October 31, 2017. The payment of the social premiums is still mandatory, however considering the post hurricane circumstances SZV is prepared to work together with the employers towards meeting feasible…
Author: The Publisher
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I’ve lived on this island my entire life. Sint Maarten is the only place I call home. From attending school, being a “good” Methodist, exploring different beaches, watching and admiring the hills, hearing ‘You Thelma granddaughter right’, this is the island I know. However, this country (Sint Maarten) has been driving me crazy for the last month and change. Post Irma showed the true colours of every politician, high governing board and persons who consider themselves as “high and respectable” in the community. As a holder of a Dutch passport, coming from a country within the Kingdom of The Netherlands,…
In most IT textbooks new topics are often introduced with case studies. As a matter of fact, when I was introduced to Business Continuity Planning it was through a case study discussing the effects of Super Storm Sandy on the northeastern coast of the United States. While Hurricane Irma was far more powerful than Super Storm Sandy and the effects were much worse, this was not only because of the strength of the hurricane but also due to a lack of adequate business continuity plans. The extensive and destructive force of Irma left the local governments and businesses on both…
Dear editor, St. Maarten has survived what is termed as a super storm; the experts agree it is the most powerful storm ever recording in the Atlantic hurricane belt. Collectively we who have escaped with the bare minimum or are lucky enough to still have a place to call home empathize with those who have lost family, friends, acquaintances or have been left homeless, penniless, jobless and displaced. Our own service providers like Gebe, TelEm, the airport, the port and UTS were exceptional even though they too had lost homes. They came out to serve some ingrates who only complain…
GREAT BAY – Transparency, fairness and accountability should be the guiding elements of the relief, recovery and rebuilding efforts,” Ombudsman Dr. Nilda Arduin says. She is asking the public to file substantial complaints about relief, recovery and rebuilding promptly to her office. The Ombudsman will apply a fast track investigation to these complaints. “It is clear that we are in a state of crisis,” the Ombudsman says. “It should be obvious that business as usual cannot apply at this stage.” The focus of the Ombudsman office will therefore be on monitoring relief, recovery and rebuilding efforts. This will get priority…
MP Sarah Wescot-Williams hits the nail on the head with her letter to the Kingdom Council of Ministers, though we can imagine that some readers might feel that the letter is a form of humiliating groveling. But nobody can fault her analysis. Like us, she does not see the connection between the transparent execution of reconstruction projects and the establishment of the Integrity Chamber. Like us, she figures that an effective control mechanism can address this issue more effective and much faster. We have suggested earlier teaming up a Dutch High Commissioner with a local expert like Ronald Halman, the…
GREAT BAY – “Cut the link between financial support and conditions that are not directly related to the transparent, effective and efficient spending of the reconstruction support from the Netherlands; establish those conditions now.” That is the plea Democratic Party MP and president of parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams made in a letter she addressed on Friday as a private person to the chairman of the kingdom Council of Ministers, Prime Minister Mark Rutte. The Netherlands wants St. Maarten to establish legislation for the establishment of the Integrity Chamber by October 31 – a practical impossibility – and to deploy the Royal…
Simpson Bay — On the 6th of September powerful category 5+ hurricane ‘Irma’ did not spare the underwater world with her large waves and strong underwater motion and surge. Scientific in-water Marine Research conducted the Nature Foundation including the Coral Nursery, Conch and Seagrass Research and the Acoustic Receivers are totally damaged or completely lost. The Coral Nursery was part of a three year RESCQ project (Restoration of Ecosystem Services and Coral Reef Quality) funded by the European Union Best 2.0 Program in order to restore Elkhorn (Acropora palmata) and Staghorn (A. cervicornis) coral reef zones by growing coral fragments…
GREAT BAY — Sarah Wescot-Williams today sent an urgent letter to the Dutch Kingdom Council of Ministers (Rijksministerraad) outlining her personal feelings and gratitude for the assistance the Netherlands as a Kingdom partner offered to St. Maarten in the aftermath of hurricane Irma and in the darkest hours the island went through and her view on the conditions the Dutch government is imposing on the St. Maarten government in order to receive financial aid for rebuilding the country. “The correlation is not clear to me. Especially between an integrity chamber and the transparent execution of projects. This should be clearly…
PHILIPSBURG – On Friday the official #SXMSTRONG campaign has been launched. This campaign is a broad initiative organized by different community- and social stakeholders on the Dutch and French side and is endorsed by both governments. The #SXMSTRONG campaign will bring together different social organizations and business community. It gives them a platform to organize their events and activities as part of the joint rebuilding efforts. Leading up to Sint Maarten day, several events will be held around the island. On November 5, the first cruise ship will arrive and the Harbor will celebrate this important arrival by organizing different…
