Philipsburg: --- Commissioner Xavier Blackman narrowly escaped a motion of no confidence which was to be presented by Island Councilman Petrus Leroy De Weever had the island council meeting convened on Thursday.
The Democratic Party Faction of the island council called an island council meeting on Thursday to discuss the pending 2010 budget and labor related matters, however the meeting could not be convened because the Democratic Party did not have a quorum even though Commissioner Theo Heyliger signed in for the meeting giving them five of the eleven signatures.
Chairman of the island council Franklyn Richards postponed the meeting for half an hour hoping that the other members of the council that were present would have signed in. In the tribune were Island Councilmen Rudolph Samuel, George Pantophlet, and commissioner Hyacinth Richardson, while the leader of government William Marlin and commissioner Frans Richardson were off island and island councilman Louis Laviest was absent. When the meeting was convened for the second time Richards informed the council that based on section 2-13 or the Island Regulations he must read out the names of those members who did not sign in as absent. He also indicated that the meeting could be called again in 30 days time based on the laws.
Shortly after the meeting was called off members of the Democratic Party in a press conference told members of the media that the people of St. Maarten needed to get answers as well as clarity on the state of affairs on the 2010 budget. Leader of the Democratic Party Sarah Wescot Williams said the only person outside of the DP faction thought it important to discuss the budget was Commissioner Theo Heyliger since he signed in. When Heyliger signed in for the island council meeting he was heard saying to the members of the Democratic Party that he is returning the favor they granted him two weeks ago by giving him a quorum. Wescot Williams said the only reason they called the for the island council meeting was to get clarification on the budget since the National Alliance/Heyliger government was not providing answers to the island council during the central committee meetings.
Wescot Williams said the CFT was very clear to the executive council during their last meeting regarding the budget and they informed the Kingdom Council of Ministers that St. Maarten does not have a budget for the year 2010. Wescot Williams said Blackman adamantly said during the CFT meetings that government would continue with the handling of the budget as presented to the island council. Wescot Williams said at the time the Lt. Governor and Chairman of the island council advised the executive council to look at the draft budget once more prior to presenting it to the island council. Wescot Williams said based on the island ordinance the budget handling must pass through a particular process prior to it being approved. She said after some confusion the 2010 budget was presented to them. She said the when they received the final draft of the budget they posed several questions to the executive council whom she said provided some interesting answers. She further explained that during the CFT meeting it was stated that the executive council would have handled the budget on March 9 along with the advise of the CFT. Wescot Williams said that so far the Democratic Party does not know if any meeting was held on March 9 and what was the outcome of that meeting. As for the Democratic Party they believe that the advise of the CFT still stands. The DP leader said the people of St. Maarten need to know what is government's position on the 2010 budget and how would the executive council get around the proposals made by the CFT. She said the CFT has advised that the matters pertaining to country St. Maarten cannot be included in the budget unless there is a guarantee from the Central Government. Wescot Williams said her faction has questions pertaining to GEBE concession fee, the environmental fees, the condominium fee, the indexation of the civil servants salaries. So far, government has been providing elusive answers and they wanted clarification from government but members of the National Alliance refused to make that happen. She warned that the actions of government would not stop the Democratic Party as they have already requested another central committee meeting. Wescot Williams said that what took place on Thursday only strengthen their position on government's ability on handling the people's affairs and right now they have absolutely no confidence in government. She said already indicated to them that travelling expenses for the second part of 2009 has increased by 50%, yet several members of government has refused to bring clarity to the people of St. Maarten.

Island councilman Petrus Leroy De Weever in his statement said he is thankful for Heyliger's support but even Heyliger who is the deputy leader of government was not able to convince the members of the National Alliance to convene the meeting by providing the quorum. De Weever said on several occasions Heyliger has said that the current executive council has no regard for his opinion and this is indeed a sad day of St. Maarten since their actions will fall on the shoulders of the people. Also expressing concern was Island Council lady Maria Buncamper who said government's inaction would have far-reaching consequences for the island. Buncamper Molanus said one of their concerns with government is that they are spending monies that were allocated for one purpose on other things. Buncamper Molanus said St. Maarten is facing a daily challenge by the Netherlands who are saying that St. Maarten must prove that they are capable to handle the people's business prior to St. Maarten getting its country status.
The island council lady said Thursday's action by the National Alliance is an exposé of incapability and irresponsibility by government. Island Councilman Roy Marlin also indicated that the commissioner of tourism has been travelling almost everyday saying he is trying to bring in additional tourism from South America to St. Maarten. Marlin said he wants to know how the tourism commissioner could do so without a budget. Marlin said he held office for ten years and not once has the DP former executive council denied the opposition information. He said the minute the opposition deny information then they are thwarting on democracy.

GREAT BAY (GIS)—Due to unforeseen problems during work on the Bush road on Wednesday night the contractor and NV GEBE were not able to complete the planned work. The Bush road was to be closed on Wednesday evening until Thursday morning 6:00 AM.

Because of the problems and delays, the Bush road will remain closed this afternoon until 3:00 PM in the direction from Sint Bernard Bridge to Zagersgut Road.

Furthermore, due to the delay in the planned work,onThursday March 11, 2010 from 8:00 PM until Friday March 12 at 6:00 AM—the Bush road remained closed to allow the work to continue.

The Sector of R.O.B., department of maintenance, Traffic Police of St. Maarten and NV GEBE informs the general public that Bush Road will be completely closed on 10th of March, 2010 starting at 8p.m. in the evening throughout the night until 6a.m.on Thursday 11th of March, 2010. Only residents of the Bush Road will be allowed to enter during the above-mentioned time.

During this timeframe, General contractor Windward Roads Infrastructure will be laying the new High Tension cables in the trenches alongside the Bush Road, from the entrance of Blijden Drive until the Prins Bernard Bridge.

Due to the needed workspace, the temporary bridges accessing the properties over the open trench will be removed in order to lay these cables.

Residents living along the Bush Road needing to use their transportation during this time frame are urged to park their vehicles on the other side of the road.

During this timeframe, residents will not be able to access their property with this vehicles.
Full access to the properties will be restored at 6.00am on Thursday morning.

This small inconvenience will allow us to execute the necessary upgrading of the Utilities on the Bush Road.

During this project, Windward Roads will accommodate the residents anyway as possible.

The Sector of ROB, N.V. GEBE and Contractor Windward Roads apologizes for any inconveniences this may cause.

For more information regarding the above-mentioned work, interested persons can contact the Sector of R.O.B. department of New Project Development and infrastructural Management (Mr. C.A. Buncamper or Mr. B. Ortega) or NV GEBE Maintenance and Execution Department.

GREAT BAY (GIS)—On Thursday, Commissioner Theo Heyliger signed an agreement with USONA for the financing of an Education Management Information System.

Present were Lars Walrave, Dutch Representative on St. Maarten, Reginald Isenia, Director of USONA(St. Maarten), and Bart Pasman also of USONA.

Commissioner Heyliger said that he was pleased to sign the agreement, which was funded by the Dutch Government. "I want to thank them, and I am pleased that this project will assist students of St. Maarten." Heyliger said.

The EMIS program is part of the institutional strengthening program and has a budget of Naf. 650.000 with a time frame of 16 months.

The EMIS system will collect, store, and process data provided by schools and other educational institutions in a central system operated by the Sector Education and its departments.

Isenia of USONA is pleased that he is able to assist the government with this project. The project is important for the school system.

EMIS is a necessary innovation in the execution of the existing tasks of the Island Territory, but it is also a crucial instrument in the process of taking over the remaining federal tasks by St. Maarten, the most important examples being inspection and implementation of Compulsory Education. Upgrading of the student tracking systems in the schools is part of the project as well

The Department of Education will use this system to generate reports that support its operations and its decision making process.

Examples of information generated by EMIS are:

1. information about the enrollment in schools, that is used to calculate the correct school subsidies;
2. information about the attainment of students, that is used for quality control and inspection;
3. information used to monitor and evaluate educational innovations;
4. information used for the purpose of decision making about curriculum development, establishment of new types of education or the planning of new schools;
5. information for the purpose of long term planning of educational infrastructure and the matching of educational output to the requirements labor market;

The vision of the EMIS project is to improve the government administration and its decision‐making process in the field of educational policy. This in turn will increase the quality of the educational system and will benefit the youth of St. Maarten. In this way, the EMIS will contribute to a more efficient allocation of resources of the Island Territory and future Country of St. Maarten.

The Implementation Organisation of the Foundation for Development of the Netherlands Antilles (Uitvoeringsorganisatie Stichting Ontwikkeling Nederlandse Antillen/USONA) is responsible for fair and effective management of the funds that the Netherlands makes available to the Netherlands Antilles for development projects

These projects must fit within the four regular programmes: Institutional Strengthening and Administrative Strength, Education and Youth, Netherlands Antilles Security Plan 2, and Social Economic Initiative.

Each year the Netherlands makes a certain amount available for such projects.

Only the Country and the five island areas can submit projects to USONA.

USONA operates as follows:

1. works on the commission of the Foundation for the Development of the Netherlands Antilles (Stichting Ontwikkeling Nederlandse Antillen - SONA);
2. is able to manage the cooperative resources independently of Dutch or Antillean politics;
3. has expertise in the area of project assessment, project management, monitoring and evaluation;
4. works according to procedural regulations approved by SONA and the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations.

NAGICO Insurances has once again sponsored the cricket matches for the Digicel Home Series, which is being broadcasted live via St. Maarten Cable TV. The company which is known for its strong support of sports activities on the island, including basketball, baseball and cricket, has tagged teamed with co-sponsor companies Motorworld and Caribbean Auto Sales to cover the costs of the sponsorship.

The competition started earlier this month and is scheduled to last until June. Cricket fans on the island can view Cable TV's channel two-program line up for more information on exact live broadcast dates.

The Managing Directors for the three companies issued a joint statement, stating: "Over the years, cricket has become part of St. Maarten and we are pleased to sponsor the costs of the live broadcast. The sponsorship represents our continued commitment to the development of sports activities on the island, as well as support for St. Maarten Cable TV in their efforts to keep the population up to date on international sports events. We encourage cricket fans on the island to view and enjoy the popular cricket series!"

The Digicel Home Cricket Series next game is scheduled for the 12th of March and can be viewed by all St. Maarten Cable TV subscribers on channel 20.