PHILIPSBURG:--- Caretaker Prime Minister Sarah Wescot Williams announced at the Council of Ministers weekly press briefing on Wednesday that the Vorst family has submitted a new proposal for the sale of their property located in Cay Hill. Wescot Williams said that the new proposal submitted to government is one million dollars less than the first proposal. The new proposal for the 11,100 m2 of land the Vorst family wants to sell is $4.5M instead of $5.5M which was signed off by caretaker Minister Maurice Lake. Wescot Williams said that while this is a new proposal, her advice to the Council of Ministers is to leave the proposal for the incoming Council of Ministers. She said that since the current Council of Ministers had taken a decision on the purchase of the property it is her belief that the incoming government should deal with it especially since the current Council of Ministers is in a caretaker status.
Emilio Wilson purchase moving forward.
Wescot Williams also announced that the Minister of VROMI is currently finalizing the purchase of the Emilio Wilson Estate as was agreed upon by the Government of St. Maarten. When asked which agreement the Government of St. Maarten is respecting and if Rainforest Adventure has anything to do with the purchase and the estate. Wescot Williams said that government will still stick to the first agreement signed off by former Minister of VROMI William Marlin which will cost government $17M. Wescot Williams said currently all she knows about the Emilio Wilson Estate purchase is that government is finalizing the purchase since the loan has been secured for it and it was also budgeted. She further stated that after the purchase she could not say if any other investor or investors will get involved.
The caretaker Prime Minister also gave an update on several issues such as the draft 2015 budget and the reaction given by the CFT. Wescot Williams said that the Government of St. Maarten has until December 15th, 2014 to finalize its draft budget.
Another issue the Prime Minister raised was a letter sent by Minister of Foreign and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk regarding the plans of the Government of St. Maarten to implement some of the recommendations in the various integrity reports. Wescot Williams said that Minister Plasterk sent a letter to the Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson informing him that he did not take a final decision on St. Maarten's plan of approach. She said the Minister stated that his Ministry and St. Maarten's administration did not yet discuss the matter at hand. She said the letter is pending even though it was sent to the Minister of Justice about two weeks ago. "Even though this letter was sent about two weeks ago I was only made aware of it on Wednesday morning, therefore the Government of St. Maarten has to deal with it."
Wescot Williams said that St. Maarten got compliments from the European Union on the NDP (National Development Plan) she said that the EU feels that St. Maarten's proposal to obtain EU funding should be used as a model.
The Prime Minister said that the list for visas for Caribbean countries has been extended. She said that persons who need a visa to enter St. Maarten can be exempted if they have multiple visas to enter the United States and Canada. Wescot Williams said that the Department of Foreign Affairs is dealing with the matter regarding the Caribbean visas which she said states which countries and persons that are exempted from the visa requirements.
Besides the updates on government affairs, Wescot Williams issued thank you's to the various persons (departments and projects) that she worked on while being the Prime Minister of St. Maarten. She also announced that she was invited to St. Eustatius to participate in a panel discussion since that island will be holding a referendum to change its current status.
