PHILIPSBURG:--- The country St. Maarten did not receive its share of monies from the division of assets which is due to St. Maarten since the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010. In responding to a question posed by SMN News Minister of Finance Richard Gibson Sr said that St. Maarten is supposed to collect NAF67M, some seven million from the SAO foundation which is now dormant. The Minister of finance further explained that discussions on this matter are still ongoing with the Kingdom and other stakeholders. The government pf St. Maarten had said previously that when the country received those monies it will be used to pay off USZV and APS as it is mandatory for the country to settle its debts with these two entities based on advice from the CFT.
Just last week the Minister of Finance traveled to Curacao to discuss several matters one being the Pearl of China. SMN News asked the Minister of Finance to give an update on the Pearl of China project and the donations the developers promised to donate to schools and other entities.
Minister Gibson said both him and the Prime Minister was invited to a lunch to discuss how they will move forward with the project. He said that the target date for construction of the Pearl of China was set for March 2016 and so far he does not see anything that would stop the project from moving forward.
