Philipsburg:--- Deputy Prime Minister William Marlin who is also the Minister of Public Works (VROMI) admitted on Monday at the continuation of the Central Committee meeting while responding to questions posed by several members of the United Peoples Party regarding zoning that filling in the Great Salt Pond was not the ideal thing to do without the necessary permits. Minister Marlin told Parliament on Monday that the so called drag strip and cricket field is not something new as is portrayed by several politicians who are already campaigning. Marlin said that the former commissioner of Tourism (Frans Richardson) was working on this project when he was in office to enhance sports tourism.
Marlin said that filling in the pond without the permits is not the ideal thing but these projects are not new. He said that the area that houses TELEM, the new Government Building, the Census Office, USM, the Little League and football field are all part of the pond. Marlin said that while it was agreed that a drag strip would be built for the local boys to race the commissioner at the time felt it was better if they built a state of the art cricket ground and drag strip that would attract professional racers to the island which would give the economy a boost.
The VROMI Minister who was severely criticized on Monday by members of the media covering the Central Committee meeting for the answers he was providing to Parliament said that USM is in possession of a building permit which would allow them to fill in parts of the pond for their expansion. He said that while many persons don't know about this, the government of St. Maarten made their plans around that so that when the pond is filled in their would be a straight line rather than a zigzag all over the pond.
Marlin made clear that he issued a stop order on the filling in of the pond, but the sand which was taken from the harbor and placed at the location will remain there until a solution is found. The VROMI Minister said that if Parliament decides that the drag strip and cricket strip cannot be built at the location then the sand will be removed. Marlin said one thing that must be clear to the people is that the filling in of the pond for the two sports facilities will not hinder the salt pans. The VROMI Minister said since the announcement of the drag strip and cricket field several persons such as environmental foundations wrote letters and those were the same people that kicked against the ring road. He said sand was placed in the area where the ring road is to be built since 1999 but nothing was done to complete the project. "The present government is not concentrating on the ring road at this time because the ring road will not solve the present traffic congestion on the island. Right now my Ministry is concentrating on links six and seven and also link four (Alexis Arnell Road.)"
As for the development of the road infrastructure Marlin said that the government of St. Maarten did not take a decision to build a tunnel, he said he ordered a study to determine if a tunnel would alleviate the traffic congestion when the causeway (bridge to nowhere) is completed. Marlin further explained that his government did not take any decision on building a sewage plant in Cape Bay and neither is the government of St. Maarten planning to buy out the properties in the area. He said that so far government is still conducting studies for the sewage and waste management plant which will be built on the dump which now stands at 24meters high.
The Minister of VROMI was stopped by Member of Parliament Johan Janchi Leonard who felt that Marlin was giving too much details in his answering but the chair of Parliament quickly reminded Leonard that the Minister was answering the questions that were posed by several members of Parliament.
