French Quarter:--- After posting an article with photographs and questions surrounding the road repairs on Adams Alexandre, SMN News managed to get some answers to most of the questions we asked from the Director of S.S.M.B.T.P. (Societe Saint Martinoise de Batiment et Travaux Publics) Guy Regent.
On the scene on Wednesday, Regent said the Collectivity of Saint Martin stopped the road works, which began on June 25 on Rue des Arrindell and Impasse Adams Alexandre. Regent explained when they began working on these roads earlier this year they noticed that on Rue Arrindell and Impasse Adams Alexandre there was no drainage, no telephone lines, no portable water lines, neither was there any sewage lines on these roads. Regent said he immediately notified the COM of his findings so that they can take a decision on how they should proceed. “We submitted a dossier to add these lines prior to building the road, but only now we got a response from the COM” Regent explained.
Regent further explained that only recently the COM gave S.S.M.B.T.P instructions on how to continue the road works. He said they were ordered to put in drainage on Rue Arrindell since the rainwater would run into people’s yard when it rain and several homes in the immediate neighborhood would flood out. “Because of the flooding and water going on other people’s property the COM made drainage a priority on that road”.
Rue Arrindell would not get telephone, water, and sewage lines since the COM is saying this was not on their budget and they are facing financial constraints. As for Impasse Adams Alexandre the company was ordered to put in telephone lines and to build the road in such a way that excess water would run down to the main road where a basin would be installed. Asked if this technique would work Regent said they would try to build the road with a “V” shape so the water would run down the middle. He further explained that their intention was to build a flat road with drainage and irrigation to the side but the COM scrapped that plan.
“I am shocked with the decisions taken by the Collectivity because they could have profited and put in water lines which would bring in much more revenues than phone lines. Nowadays everybody has a cellular phone and there is phone lines in this area but no water line.” Says Regent.
He said the COM told them they would find another solution for water lines in the future, for these roads but no mention was made about how the COM intends to deal with the sewage situation. Regent could not say if they would have to break these roads in the future to install the water lines when the monies become available.
