SHTA Call to Action Regarding the Dump
PHILIPSBURG – “Dear His Majesty King Willem Alexander, His Excellency the Governor Eugene Holiday, Council of Ministers, Honorable Members of Parliament, State Secretary of Kingdom Affair Raymond Knops, Head of Dutch Recovery Programme Hans Leijtens, Representative of the Netherlands in St. Maarten Chris Johnson, Head of World Bank Mission to St. Maarten Doekle Wielinga,” is the letter from the St. Maarten Hospitality & Trade Association (SHTA) addressed to the aforementioned on behalf of its membership and the public seeking urgent action regarding the Pond Island Landfill.”
“To anybody familiar with Sint Maarten, it is obvious that just like hurricane Irma, the dump affects all the citizens of the island – regardless where you might reside or work.”
Although most probably we will only know the real human cost of inhaling fumes from the dump on a daily basis in the future, we need immediate short term action now while a long term plan hopefully is being conceived.”
“For several decades now, many talks have been spent on this topic – whereas the problem only seems to become worse. Time has come to acknowledge that those many years of talking has shown we do not have the capacity to remove the dump ourselves but that we need outside help to solve this problem.”
“Therefore, it is by this means that we demand for an immediate short term solution to put a stop to the fires and gases killing our society.”
“This undoubtedly is our number one problem and should be handled with such urgency. We ask from the World Bank and the Kingdom to tap into their human and technical resources and take direct control over our sanitary landfill for the good of our people. We do not have the luxury of long term planning and endless meetings, we need action,” the SHTA on behalf of its members and the residents of St. Maarten, said in its open letter on Thursday.”
