Philipsburg:---St. Maarten Pride Foundation warns that the building of the Ring road, particularly during the Hurricane season, could potentially lead to disastrous flooding of the Sucker Garden and Greater Philipsburg area and is therefore extremely irresponsible.
According to a Government commissioned report titled “Report Great Salt Pond water storage capacity” carried out by Lievense Consulting Engineers; the present water storage capacity of the Great Salt Pond is 132,1 ha (hectare). Based on this same report the minimum storage capacity of the Great Salt Pond is required to be some 109 ha (hectare). The report indicates that with the construction of the Ring road the Great Salt Pond’s water storage capacity will be 110,4 ha (hectares) a reduction of 21,7 ha (hectares) or 16,4 percent of the Pond’s present water storage capacity and just 1,4 ha (hectares) above the aforementioned required minimum storage capacity of 109 ha (hectares).
The clearing of vegetation on the Great Salt Pond’s surrounding hillsides and in valleys for the building of homes, businesses etc. or the construction of roads continues to reduce the water retention capacity of these areas and therefore channels increasingly large volumes of water to the Fresh Pond and the Great Salt Pond. The influx of rainwater into the Fresh Pond and the Great Salt Pond over the past few years has consequently increased at a rapid rate. In addition hurricane experts have estimated that the 2009 Hurricane season will have about 5 hurricanes, 11 named storms and at least 2 major (Category 3-4-5) hurricanes. Considering the aforementioned, St. Maarten Pride Foundation believes that Government and in particular the Commissioner in charge of infrastructure and the environment should be planning for increased water storage capacity rather than reducing the Great Salt Pond’s water storage capacity to just 1.4 ha (hectares) above the required minimum.
St. Maarten Pride Foundation calls on the Lt. Governor and the island’s Disaster Management and Preparedness coordinators to take a close look at the Ring road plans as it is obvious that the Commissioner in charge of the project has not taken the safety and well-being of St. Maarten’s residents and their homes into consideration with the proposed plans for the construction of the Ring road.