Philipsburg – The general public is reminded that building or making changes to a building without an approved building permit, is in violation of article 7 of the Building Ordinance. A building stop is in effect for all construction activities without a valid permit. Building stop is in effect for all construction activities without a valid permit Home or property owners who are planning to reconstruct, repair or rebuild are requested to report to the Ministry of VORMI’s Inspection/Permits Department in the New Government Building on the Pond Island and fill out a building permit request form on Monday through…
Author: The Publisher
Philipsburg – In the aftermath of Hurricane Irma and Maria, the Ministry of VROMI will be assessing all damaged structures. The Ministry of VROMI will be assessing inhabitable and damaged beyond repair structures The assessments will be executed via joint inspections conducted by the Inspection and Permits Department. The group will be split in teams of specialized inspectors who will be listing uninhabitable structures and structures that have been deemed damaged beyond repair. All structures that are deemed a danger and damaged beyond repair will be marked for demolition. Photo caption: VROMI Yellow Building itself damaged beyond repair. Photo by…
It is impossible to estimate the economic impact of Hurricane Irma on St. Maarten right now. That the impact will be severe is obvious, but how bad is it going to be? With 80 percent of the room inventory destroyed, stay-over tourism will collapse. Cruise ships will not come to the island as long as its infrastructure is in a shambles. If the island is gonna miss, say, 500,000 cruise passengers over the next six months, the local economy will see roughly $90 million go up in smoke, based on an average spending of $180 per passenger. The government will…
GREAT BAY –Things are not what they used to be, but we see the island slowly but surely recovering from the devastation Hurricane Irma created. Some readers have asked us not to sugarcoat the situation. And while we don’t intend to do that, we have also come to realize that many locals have had more than enough of hurricane-pictures. They don’t want to see destruction, they want to see recovery. And those signs of recovery are there. Clean up crews react with a big smile to every thumbs-up they get from passing motorists. The streets are getting cleaner, garbage is…
GREAT BAY- In his official capacity as Guyana’s first Honorary Consul on St. Maarten, Cleveland Beresford said that now is the time for fathers to make some hard decisions if they want to help in the rebuilding of the country they now call their homes. Through the intervention of Mrs. Kim Lucas-Felix, Vice Principal at the St. Maarten Academy, Guyanese residing here were kept informed about the very important meeting which took place at the school yesterday afternoon. From the attendance, it was evident that the notice she first posted on Whatsapp for circulation did reach a cross section of…
PHILIPSBURG –The Police Force of Sint Maarten with the assistance of the police forces from Aruba, Curacao, the Netherlands, the Royal Marechaussee, and the V.K.C. that are presently on the island along with the V.K.S. and the Customs Department, continue to make great progress in the arrest of persons, who have been identified as suspects in the mass looting of many businesses on the island, in the aftermath of hurricane Irma. Below are a number of reports received today from the Police department of P.R. and Communications. Man arrested at his home in possession of stolen items A man identified…
GREAT BAY – The Philipsburg Jubilee Library has been hit by more than one disaster. First Hurricane Irma ripped through the building and then the looters came – not for books but for the computers from the computer lab. Obviously, the library needs a lot of help to get back on its feet. On Wednesday staff was busy listing the books that have to be discarded because they have been damaged by the rain. It is all done by hand, at a few tables put out near the entrance of the library. Library director Monique Alberts left on Wednesday on…
GREAT BAY – Utilities Company Gebe is allowed to immediately terminate the labor contract of a former supervisor accounts payable because the woman reached retirement age some time ago. The Court in First Instance ruled in favor of Gebe, saying that in the local community and within Gebe in particular, reaching retirement age is considered a lawful reason to terminate a labor contract. The employee, born on October 18, 1956, started working for Gebe on January 1, 1990. The contract does not include an article about dismissal at retirement age. Until December 2016, the woman worked as supervisor accounts payable.…
COLE BAY — The Yacht Club at Port De Plaisance announced today that Jeff Boyd is re-opening the yacht club and will be receiving mega yachts again as of November 1st. The aim of the yacht club with its speedy re-opening is to drive business back into St. Maarten which will be key to the island’s economic recovery and will help provide jobs for those in need, especially in the marine sector, after the devastation caused by hurricane Irma. Jeff Boyd writes in his press release: “I will like to take the opportunity to thank each and every one of…
ST. JOHN’S — “Seeing Hurricane Irma increase in strength on the weather channel just made us worried.” says Tim Dowling, animation illustrator and owner of the art gallery, Art House St. Maarten. Animation illustrator Tim Dowling recounts his personal experiences during Hurricane Irma “The weather people used such horrible sentences like ‘anything that comes into Irma’s path would be annihilated!’ which made my stomach just churn. I was worried. We’d been through Luis and this was ‘only’ a category 4 hurricane so I was sick to my stomach with worry. During the hurricane, all I could think was ‘please God,…
