Marigot: --- President of the Collectivity Frantz Gumbs accompanied by first vice president Daniel Gibbs along with the Director General Pascal Avern said they attended to several key matters during their one week visit to Paris. One of those issues was to check with their lawyer to see what is outcome of the complaints that was filed against the election of the President. Those complaints were filed by UPP member and former first vice president Marthe Ogoundele and opposition RRR with the State Council contesting the election of Gumbs as president. Gumbs said that they did have meeting with the lawyer who told them that he is optimistic about the upcoming case.The President said they also met with some young St. Martiners who are in Paris, these individuals are highly qualified. He said they are specifically looking for someone with a degree in engineering and they did meet a local young woman who has an excellent profile but this person would have to get back to them to say if she would be accepting the proposal given to her by the COM.
Gumbs said that the main purpose of the visit was to actually set the stage of the COM. He said the idea is to further look at the Organic Law as well as the development of the island since the island has taken on its new status as a Collectivity.
During that visit the local delegation which included senator Louis Constant Fleming and Laurent Fuentes from the Social and Economic Council visited at least two ministries, which are the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Overseas Affairs.
Justice Matters --- No Prison for St. Martin
Gumbs explained during the meeting with the Ministry of Justice they asked for a reinforcement of the judicial structure locally. One of the problems facing St. Martin is that the present justice system does not have the means to present a case immediately before the courts. He said in most cases when law breakers are arrested they are being released and requested to appear in court two months later.
"This is like a slap on the risk which gives people the impression nothing is done to people who breaks the law. The gendarmes only have the power to hold detainees for a maximum of 48 hours." The president said if the judicial system is not beefed up then they would continue to face the same kind of situation. The COM he said made a request for another judge and greffier which would permit immediate court cases and a better functioning of the judicial system. He said they were assured that a head greffier post has been created while they were told St. Martin can use a judge from Basse Terre since it is not necessary to have three judges on location during court cases instead they just need to be linked which can be done via video conferencing.
Another request from St. Martin was to have a prison built on the island but that was rejected for the lack of funds. Another explanation given to the local delegation is that right now a new prison is being built in Guadeloupe which would be bigger in size and continue to accommodate prisoners from St. Martin. However, the local representative wants a place to hold prisoners who are in pre-trail detention for longer than 48 hours. Gumbs said the Ministry is now looking into ways to see if it would be possible to create or build a facility for such purposes. He added this matter has some technical difficulties which have to be regulated since it has to have legislative conditions.
The final request from the COM was to have a youth correctional center built on St. Martin, however, the files for this matter was not completed since they only added on this request en route to Paris. He said they are looking for a strong alternative for minors who are breaking the law rather than putting these youths in jail. Even though not fully prepared the Ministry has promised to study the request to see if a correctional center can be constructed on St. Martin at a later date.
Fiscal System---
The delegation also met with a consultancy agency to see how they would modify the fiscal system locally such as tax habitation, tax frontiers, which is now collected by the Collectivity of St. Martin. He said the COM wants to shift the direct fiscality to indirect fiscality which would aim at balancing the fiscal system. Gumbs said the consulting agency is there to study or plan how that shifting should take place. He said the idea is to make sure everyone pay their share of taxes and not a selected few.
Another concern that was discussed is the funds "dontation global de compensation" which is derived from charges that is collected. He said they expected to have at least 5.1 million Euros however, they learnt the amount would be a mere 280,000 Euros. The president said when he learnt of the amount he felt somewhat deceived since they dropped from five million to scarcely anything therefore they needed some explanations as to why there was the drop or steepness in the funds. He said they learnt that the compensation funds were based on an estimation of fiscal revenues coming out of St. Martin. He said the first estimate was based on 16 million Euros for 2008. He said after re-calculation the new estimate amounts to 21 million Euros with an additional of 5 million Euros. Despite having some explanations they are now awaiting the official documents which will permit them to see how the calculations were done.
The president said they also discussed the funds octroi de mer which was collected in Guadeloupe and distributed to all the communes. Something St. Martin benefited from this year despite they are now a Collectivity although St. Martin is not contributing Gumbs said. This funding amounts to 10 or 12 million Euros.
Gumbs said based on their interpretation of the Organic Law St. Martin is due to collect these monies but the State he said interpreted the Organic Law differently. He said they felt the COM is due to these monies as compensation from the State. The president said they had prior knowledge about not able to get these monies but St. Martin simply cannot afford to loose that kind of monies at this point in time, as such they have proposed to the State to slowly withdraw the funds during a three or four year period which would give St. Martin the time it needs to regulate its fiscal system which would eventually compensate for the loss.
Gumbs said they also discussed the Organic law since they do need some decree prior to implementing certain aspects of the law. He said despite the fact that the Chamber of Commerce is going to close its doors on December 31 2008. St. Martin still does not have the legal power to open such a facility even though the local council voted to have a Chamber of Inter-professionals. However, they did need to get authorization to make this work, even though this is not a difficult process it must be mentioned in the law.
The president said they also discussed having a development plan contract with the State something that is usual with the State and their overseas bodies. He said this is a financing contract for different projects that has to be completed. Gumbs said they have agreed to have a negotiation plan set up for this contract to be established, he said he hoped this contract would be in place by mid 2009.
Expansion of Grand Case Airport
The delegation also met with a consulting firm who would be conducting a feasibility study for different scenarios such as if the airstrip is extended by another 300m what would be the impact economically and environmentally. The COM wants to know how much jobs this kind of expansion would create and is the risks in security. He said they also asked for the same feasibility for a 600m expansion which would give the COM the opportunity to make a sensible decision with the airport. Even though the intention is not to compete with the Princess Juliana International Airport they need to have a proper Regional Airport which would make a viable contribution to the economy.
Vice president of Economic Affairs who was also in Paris to attend a tourism seminar said that this was a seminar geared specifically for the overseas department and it was the first of its kind. Gibbs said the two representatives from the Collectivity of St. Martin and St. Barths felt somewhat excluded since the two islands are no longer communes, but the islands were included in all the statistics that were provided.
Gibbs said this seminar will be taking place annually and they have to ensure that the two islands will fight for their identity and image. Gibbs said a website would be at their disposal where they would be able to create more awareness.
Another promise made is the Ministry will do more for airlines but this he said hinders both Collectivities since the flights leaving Europe (Orly) is going directly to Guadeloupe or Martinique.
The Ministry he said would be looking into cutting down the time for the processing of visas since St. Martin really needs to work on markets that has not yet been touched. Those markets include China, India, Russia and Central Europe. "I got an assurance that the time for processing these visas will be slashed from three weeks to three days." Gibbs said.
Another victory Gibbs said is the Minister Yves Jego has agreed to conduct audits at the State expense in each region. St. Martin he said needs to show its differences and the type of tourism they want to attract. The vice president of tourism and economic affairs said he is busy working in organizing this audit. "We would be calling on all merchants, hoteliers, taxis, restaurants and bar owners to make their imput in this audit."
