GREAT BAY- Of all the aircrafts touching down at the Prince Juliana International Airport, KLM Boeing 747-400, owned by the Royal Dutch Airlines has been the one attracting most of the attention on its arrival and mind boggling departure. However, today will mark its final flight of the 747 that came here three times a week to the friendly island of St Maarten on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. That aircraft will be replaced by an Airbus 330-200, which has the ability to accommodate 243 passengers. With the arrival of the Airbus 330-200 comes a new flight plan that will be…
Author: The Publisher
GREAT BAY – Seven of the fourteen candidates on the list of the People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA) that took part in the September 26 elections have failed to submit a registration of their donations to the electoral council. Among them is party leader Gracita Arrindell. All candidates that were elected to parliament submitted an overview of their donations. The PPA-members who failed to register their donations are, apart from the party leader, Franchesca Arrindell, Cleopatra Dayday-Halley, Armando Gumbs, Bibiano Frensel Rimon, Patrick Williams and Johan Zwart. Jelen Coulanges, a candidate for Frans Richardson’s United St. Maarten party also failed to…
GREAT BAY – According to the Quarterly Bulletin of the Central Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten, the monetary union recorded an economic contraction in the second quarter of 2016 as real GDP dropped in both Curaçao and Sint Maarten. In Curaçao, real output dwindled by 0.2% in 2016’s second quarter, while the economy of Sint Maarten contracted by 0.3%. Meanwhile, inflation was negative at -0.2% in both countries because the drop in international oil prices weighed heavily on price pressures in the June quarter of 2016. Zika-fears and decline in cruise arrivals In Sint Maarten, the main causes for…
October 26 was the deadline for tendering bids to the public competition for the proposed development of the Marigot Bay. In the setting of the absolute need and urgency to create sustainable economic activity on the territory, Marigot Bay, for decades is considered by all to be a tremendous asset with the potential for real and strategic development as having the ability to be an engine of economic and social growth. It is clear therefore that in such a project, the essential objective if not the exclusive objective, ought to be to attract, cater and accommodate tourists and visitors with…
Finance Minister Gibson has said on numerous occasions that the economy is in trouble and now data from the Central Bank confirm this. St. Maarten’s economy has contracted in the second quarter and it stands to reason to expect more bad news when the data about the third quarter become available. Fewer cruise arrivals, fewer stay-over arrivals and fear for the Zika-virus are the three components the Central Bank mentions to explain the decline. And which actions did our minister of tourism and economic affairs take in the face of this downturn? That’s a good question and we don’t have…
THE HAGUE – The Netherlands has offered St. Maarten redemption on an existing loan, even though the country’s finances are not in order. St. Maarten would have gotten into more trouble if that had been blocked, Acting Minister Stef Blok (Kingdom Relations) said in the Second Chamber yesterday. He emphasized that it is about an existing loan, not a new one, Pieter Hofmann reports on Caribisch Netwerk. André Bosman (VVD) had asked questions after reports that a 26 million guilders loan of St. Maarten had been extended by the Netherlands, in spite of the fact that St. Maarten’s 2016 budget…
In a statement published on CuracaoChronicle.com, Ronald Plasterk, Minister of Kingdom Relations, is quoted as saying that the governors of the countries of Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten serve primarily the interests of The Hague and not that of the country where they are. They are representatives of the King, who is the head of the Kingdom Government. This was stated in answers to queries from the Dutch members of the Second Chamber in Holland to the minister about the position of the governor after the disagreement between the Kingdom government and the Aruban government headed by Mike Eman. What…
The story about Antillean students who feel like outsiders in the Netherlands deserves some further thought. Obviously, we do not condone or support discrimination in any way. Yet we know that it exists, not only in Donald Trump’s locker rooms but in many other places too. Wishing that discrimination and racism disappear is like asking Santa Claus for that Ferrari you’ll never drive. So what to do? The thing to realize is that discriminatory and racist remarks say more about the one who makes them than they do about their targets. This is how Dutch kids used to reply to…
THE BOTTOM – Film crews of the German TV-show Terra X and the Discovery Channel were on the island to shoot some promotional material. Saba has been nominated in the Most Beautiful Nature Area of the Netherlands competition, Hazel Durand reports on Caribisch Netwerk. The nomination has triggered international interest while the local tourism industry goes through difficult times. Saba Conservation Foundation, Saba Archeological Center and the island council have already made a plan in case Saba wins the prize money – which could be as much as €300,000. “We will seriously invest in improving the hiking routes and in…
GREAT BAY – With only today and tomorrow left for candidates that took part in the September 26 elections 42 percent of them (53) have not yet submitted their donation registration to the Electoral Council. Among them are candidates that have been elected to parliament. This afternoon, candidates elected to parliament have to sign a declaration at the Electoral Council stating that they have abided by the national ordinance registration and finances political parties. Deadline October 26 Last Friday, the Electoral Council requested the representatives of the political parties to urge all candidates, who contested the 2016 parliamentary elections to…
