Landfill and Harbor and Zebec meetings will not be held this week.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams representing the Democratic Party faction in parliament told reporters during their bi-monthly press conference on Monday that they are pleased with the acknowledgement of the Governor who mentioned the progress the former government had with the OCTA regional meetings and the preparation on obtaining EU funding along with the French side. These acknowledgements were made when the Governor of St. Maarten addressed both Government and Parliament during the opening ceremony on September 8th 2015.
Wescot Williams also said she is also pleased that the Governor reminded both parliament and government about the National Development plan which she said a lot of monies, effort and time was spent on.
On another note Wescot Williams is not too pleased with the functioning of parliament when they request urgent meetings. One being the settlement with St. Maarten Harbor Group of Companies and Zebec and the current status of the landfill.
Wescot Williams said that the current Minister of VROMI could have informed Parliament that he is off island with personnel of GEBE to work on a waste to management plant. She said that had the Minister inform parliament that he was working on the issue they would have been willing to wait on the Minister but saying nothing does not sit well with Parliament. As for the Harbor and Zebec she said that on Monday morning she asked the Minister of Justice who was in parliament if the Members of Parliament could forward their questions to the Prosecutor’s Office who is currently conducting an investigation at the Harbor in order for Parliament to get the information they needed.
Wescot Williams said that her faction will be keeping their eyes on several issues that are affecting the country, one being transparency and integrity, the proposed change to the tax system which they believe must be simplified. Economic Reform also has their concern, one being a larger economic vision for the country. The General pension scheme, health especially regarding the St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC).Higher education especially at USM, electoral reform, disaster management and more focus on government owned companies.
Advisor to the Democratic Party Emil Lee said that St. Maarten is already seeing the negative effects with tourism due to the lack of promotion. Lee said that already the Dutch side is already seeing a 20 to 30% decrease while there are increases on the French side. Lee said all of this is happening because of the constant change of Ministers in the Ministry of TEATT and the lack of continuity.
