Below is the unabridged text of the address of Prime Minister William Marlin on the occasion of Constitution Day – and the sixth anniversary of country St. Maarten. Six years ago, St. Maarten embarked on a new constitutional journey with the attainment of the status of autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was a journey that started with the referendum of 2000; a journey that took a whole decade. Six years ago, we lowered the flag of the Netherlands Antilles forever, and kept our own flag flying. We had arrived at 10-10-10 full of pride, full of…
Author: The Publisher
WILLEMSTAD – The Royal Navy for the Caribbean is on its way to Haiti to provide emergency assistance in the wake of Hurricane Matthew that tore across the island and caused enormous damages, Dick Drayer reports on Caribisch Netwerk. For the first time the private sector in Curacao extends a helping hand as well. A building supplies store that employs a large number of Haitians provided basic construction material and helped loading the navy vessel Zr. Ms. Pelikaan. The Haitian authorities have asked the Netherlands for assistance. Ministers Hennis-Plasschaert (Defense) and Ploumen (Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation) have promised the…
We hear a lot about awareness these days but how many people are really walking the talk? Like many other communities, St. Maarten is rife with citizens suffering from obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. Talk is cheap and action is often lacking. We move around mostly in cars and spend our days playing with our smart phones and surfing the internet. Everything is accessible with the click of a button, but in the meantime many of us forget that it is important to stay active – or face the consequences. The French side has taken a remarkable initiative with…
GREAT BAY – The Kingdom Council of Ministers re-appointed Governor Drs. Eugène Holiday on Friday. Holiday (53) completed his first six-year term yesterday. Minister Ronald Plasterk (Kingdom Relations) nominated Holiday for a second term that ends on October 10, 2022. The Kingdom Council of Ministers furthermore appointed Alfonso Boekhoudt, the current Minister Plenipotentiary for Aruba in The Hague, as Aruba’s next governor per January 1, 2017. The 51-year-old Boekhoudt succeeds Fredis Renfunjol. Yvonne Lacle-Dirks (64) succeeds Ella Tromp-Yarzagaray as Aruba’s acting governor per November 1. All appointments are for a period of six years. As a side note, we would…
The trustee’s report about the bankruptcy of Aquarius and Sabra paints a bleak picture of the business practices that led to the demise of these two companies and to tons of sorrow for duped investors. While the company feasted on money investors paid in good faith for a luxury condo, the economy went south, the companies could not meet their financial obligations anymore and from there everything went from bad to worse. The trustee’s report shows that the buyers may have acted in good faith, but the companies definitely did not. With hundreds of hours of research on the clock…
THE HAGUE – Two hundred farmers will soon be generating electricity from cow manure and there are plans to recruit 1,000 in four years, reports NOS on Tuesday. FrieslandCampina, the largest dairy collective in the Netherlands, set up a business in September called Jumpstart to channel subsidies to farmers who want to install mono-digesters that break down waste into biogas. Henk Kamp, minister for economic affairs, has committed €150m to the project and turned on the first mono-digester in Friesland on Tuesday morning. FrieslandCampina plans to pay farmers a surcharge of €10 per thousand litres of milk they sell if they buy a…
THE HAGUE – Driver’s licenses could be available as a phone app in the next few years under plans proposed by the vehicle licensing service. Bas van den Berg, head of the driver’s licenses unit at the RVW agency, said the technology for mobile licenses was in development. ‘You’ll download an app from the store and the details of your driver’s license will be stored in a secure manner,’ he said. The proposal came on the day when paper driver’s licenses officially expired. The Telegraaf reported that around 300,000 old-style licenses had not been handed in, even though drivers risk…
GREAT BAY – Hypnotic Entertainment and JMC Investments have been declared bankrupt by the Court in First Instance yesterday. Hypnotic and JMC (James Martin Carti) operated the former Seaman’s Club brothel in Sucker Garden on a permit it leased from Richbenzwan, but it could not keep up with the $18,000 monthly payments. After several court cases the companies all lost against the permit holder, they sought protection from the court with a request for delay of payments, but yesterday it was over and out.
From our Today Newspaper Online desk: “The Dutch Kingdom Government has approved the re-appointment of Governor Eugene Holiday for another term of six years until 2022.” More details to follow in the next edition of the Today newspaper. Click here>>>
GREAT BAY – TelEm Group and RBC Merchant Bank (Caribbean) Ltd. announced the signing of a $32 million Bond agreement after months of negotiations. The TELeM Group uses the bond issue to finance future capital expenditure and refinance current debt obligations. This bond supplements an €8 million loan obtained from the European Investment Bank (EIB) last year for an island-wide Fibre to the Home project. According to Andrew Boissiere – Vice President Corporate and Investment Banking and TelEm Group Chief Financial Officer Helma Etnel, the bond agreement was officially signed in August 2016 and represents a significant achievement for both…
