PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake was moved by the activities that took place surrounding Awareness Week for the Physically Challenged & Wheelchair Tennis Tournament initiated by Top Promotion Foundation and executed by Top Promotion Committee Be Able.
The impression left on the Minister has resulted in him instructing Ministry VROMI to review the building code and draft regulations that would lead to future projects having facilities and access that are 'disable friendly' to persons with a disability.
An estimated 600 million people around the world according to the World Health Organization (WHO) live with some form of disability, and 470 million of them of working age.
"I would like to see an accessibility audit carried out with respect to the infrastructure of government facilities, semi-government companies, organizations and institutions. We need to start somewhere and government must start from within and play a leading role by making our buildings more accessible for the physically disabled and senior citizens.
"The Be Able Committee did a great job promoting this event, but more importantly, creating awareness within the community. I believe our new Government building and Parliament building should lead by example with the introduction of access and doing away with barriers to the peoples institutions.
"As a man of action, I have already informed my Ministry to start advising any new developer of large buildings or new infrastructure to start putting in their plan accessories for the disabled and senior citizens.
"We need to get more actions in place where this particular issue is concerned and this can be done by changing building codes and regulations and this is already being worked on. In the meantime the Ministry will investigate the possibility to implement this in the form of a policy for larger scale buildings before the regulations are in place since this could take some time," Minister Hon. Maurice Lake pointed out on Monday.
Minister Lake over the weekend had a good discussion with a General Manager of a hotel in Philipsburg who is taking the lead by making their facilities more disable and senior citizen friendly by creating ramps to the restaurants and to the beach. The Minster will continue to encourage other hotels and the motel sector to take steps to upgrade their properties in this area, and is urging the St. Maarten Hospitality & Trade Association (SHTA) and the Chamber of Commerce & Industry to also start advising its stakeholders to cater to the disabled and senior citizens.
The Minister also spoke with one of the international participants in the past week Wheel-chair Tennis Tournament Lola Ochoa of Spain about their stay on the 'Friendly Island,' and areas can be improved for the disabled based on her own experiences. Ochoa passed on some ideas to the Minister who in turn has informed his ministry.
