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NA: Marlin’s waste-to-energy plan called for zero investment

PHILIPSBURG--The still-pending waste-to-energy (WTE) plant would have cost taxpayers “a total of zero investment” under the plan left behind by National Alliance (NA) leader Member of Parliament William Marlin after his tenure as Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI in 2012-2013, said the NA board in a press statement on Wednesday.

The terms of reference were designed so that the WTE supplier would be granted a concession for 20-25 years and utilities company GEBE would buy the energy produced by the WTE plant, said the board as they chided United People’s (UP) party Member of Parliament Theo Heyliger for saying in Parliament recently that projects require investment.

“So you see, MP Heyliger, you are not correct Read more

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Minister Richardson answers MPs on Harbour/Zebec settlement

PHILIPSBURG--Deputy Prime Minister Dennis Richardson provided answers on Tuesday to questions Members of Parliament (MPs) had asked about the Harbour’s settlement with Zebec Development in a first round of questions during an emergency meeting the day before.

Richardson first tackled the reasoning for both the court case and the settlement, then went on to more individual questions asked.

Case/settlement

The core issue is that Zebec intended to develop the Dutch Village on long-lease land of the Harbour Read more

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MPs question Dennis on Zebec settlement at Port

~ Sarah’s call for more speaker’s time voted down ~

PHILIPSBURG--Members of Parliament (MPs) fired off numerous questions seeking clarity on the Harbour’s settlement with Zebec Development during an emergency meeting on Monday.

The meeting was adjourned after the first round of questions to give Deputy Prime Minister Dennis Richardson a chance to obtain answers. The meeting will continue at 2:00pm today, Tuesday.

A proposal by Democratic Party (DP) MP Sarah Wescot-Williams at the start of the meeting for the speaking time to be increased to 30 minutes in the first round and 20 minutes in the second round was voted down with eight MPs voting against the proposal and six voting for it.

The vote was called after United People’s (UP) party MP Franklin Meyers said he opposed Wescot-Williams’ proposal Read more

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Parliament adopts Constitution Day

PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten officially has ditched Kingdom Day, December 15, as an official holiday and replaced with it Constitution Day, which is to be observed annually on the second Monday in October, starting this year.

Parliament unanimously adopted the law on Thursday to make the day official and strike Kingdom Day from the calendar. The establishment of this newest holiday comes ahead of the fifth anniversary of St. Maarten’s attainment of country-within-the-Dutch-Kingdom status and the coming into force of the St Read more

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Editorial - A promise made …

Governor Eugene Holiday gave a solid commitment for the deployment of a security camera system during the opening of the legislative year on Tuesday. He was speaking on behalf of the Gumbs cabinet at the time, of course.

The term “country-wide” was used, but this probably should not be taken too literally. After all, it’s almost inconceivable to fully cover every nook and cranny of every neighbourhood.

More plausible is that the main roads will be targeted, along with crime-sensitive locations like downtown Philipsburg and areas frequented by visitors such as Pelican/Simpson Bay, Oyster Pond/Dawn Beach and Maho/Cupecoy Read more

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Achievements and lack thereof highlighted as MPs close year

PHILIPSBURG--The achievements or lack thereof in the first Parliamentary year of the second Parliament came into focus as Members of Parliament (MPs) closed off the 2014-2015 legislative year in Parliament House on Monday. The 2015-2016 year opens today, Tuesday, with much pomp and ceremony.

The call to work together was issued by fraction leaders representing the coalition partners while the two opposition fraction leaders MP William Marlin (National Alliance) and Sarah Wescot-Williams (Democratic Party) were straightforward with their criticism about lack of action by the United People’s (UP) party-led coalition.

Destiny impaired

UP fraction leader MP Franklin Meyers laid the blame for the country’s stagnated growth and development in the past year at the door of The Hague saying that government and Parliament have spent the past year battling instructions and financial constraints due to financial supervision Read more

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