-- Lake wants to use funds from St. Peters, DQ projects for overpriced Vorst land --
PHILIPSBURG:--- Leader of the National Alliance Member of Parliament William Marlin is calling on UP's VROMI Minister Maurice Lake to come clean on his shady, overpriced Vorst land deal, which appears to be a project to enrich someone.
Marlin said Lake has scrapped two major projects NA had planned for St. Peters and Dutch Quarter as well as the upgrading of Cay Hill and improving the sewage facility of the South Reward homes and has held 10 million guilders from the funds earmarked for these projects hostage to be used for the shady and overpriced Vorst Estate in Cay Hill.
Marlin said this was a despicable and unforgivable move by Lake and was a slap in the face of the people of St. Peters, Dutch Quarter, South Reward and Cay Hill who were eagerly awaiting these improvements.
"The present minister and his leader are bending over backward to purchase the overpriced land using money set aside for projects for the people. This is a crime and it should not go unpunished. And for now since punishing politicians would take years in the court, the people of St. Maarten should come out on August 29 and punish politicians who are not doing things in the interest of the people, but in their own interest."
The leader of the NA said he had earmarked funds in the draft 2014 budget that NA's former Finance Minister Roland Tuitt had prepared before leaving office, for the continuation of the sewage project in St. Peters and for the major upgrading of the road in Dutch Quarter.
However, both projects, which were going to immensely benefit the people of these two districts, were scrapped by UP's back to basics minister Maurice Lake, who wants to use the funds to purchase overpriced land. "UP is telling you that they are ready, but they are only ready to rip the people off. They want to buy 11,200 square metres of land for 10 million guilders and when their hand was discovered in the cookie jar and they were asked what the land was for they said to build social housing."
William Marlin said when he had been in office as VROMI Minister he was planning the major upgrade of the Dutch Quarter Road. He had announced the upgrade and had set aside funds for it. The project was supposed to have started in December, 2013 and it was destined to make the main road in Dutch Quarter the most modern road in St. Maarten. The project, which was supposed to have been executed with government and European funds, included the complete upgrading of the entire main road in Dutch Quarter; sewage lines, cabling, and street lights etc.
Regarding the St. Peters project, Marlin said when UP Leader Theo Heyliger was in office as Public Works Commissioner, he dug up the roads in St. Peters and put in sewage lines leading to nowhere. The lines were installed along St. Peters main road and stopped at the bridge in St. Peters. "Heyliger had to rush to campaign for an election, fooled the people that he had been working for them and not one home in the area had been connected to the sewage lines. Millions were put into a bridge and the people in St. Peters are still not hooked up to a sewage line."
Marlin said he took a proactive approach to address the shortcoming and allocated funds in the draft budget and put a plan in place, which had been approved, to connect the sewage line in St. Peters to the main sewage line on the L.B. Scott Road. Funds for this had been on the draft 2014 budget.
"The present back to basics minister however said we going back to basics we going to do things the UP way, we ready to rip them off and guess what they did? They scrapped the Dutch Quarter upgrade, scrapped the sewage line connection in St Peters; scrapped the upgrade of Cay Hill and improvements in South Reward, hijacked 10 million guilders and this is the 10 million guilders the back to basic minister wants to stick in 11,000 square metres of land to purchase in Cay Hill. The people are saying enough is enough we won't take it anymore."
NA had been purchasing land for schools and housing for St. Maarten for many years but never paid such outrageous prices. Marlin said NA had purchased 14,000 square metres of land in Cole Bay for sporting and other facilities for less than 2 million guilders; bought 14,400 square metres of land in Hope Estate for just 1 million guilders; bought land in Dutch Quarter to build the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School and the Dutch Quarter Community Center for less than 100,000 guilders and for 10 million guilders NA bought the entire Belvedere and built homes for residents and seniors, a community centre and more. "Yet Lake and the UP leader want to buy 11,200 square meters in Cay Hill for 10 million guilders. This is outrageous. The minister should come clean on this."
NA Press Release
