Philipsburg:--- The Prison Association and some of the neighbors in Cay Hill are planning to file a court case against Government plans to turn the "The Box" in Cay Hill into a prison facility. SMN News learnt that the Prison Association already sent a proposal to the Minister of Justice Roland Duncan informing him that they prefer to have all prisoners at one location. The prisoners are also contesting the transfer of some 30 prisoners to the Philipsburg Police Station as a section of the Pointe Blanche Prison is renovated.While the Minister is busy holding discussions to have the prison facility in Pointe Blanche renovated there is no date set as to when the actual work will begin. SMN News further learnt that the necessary construction work will be done on "the box" to turn it into a prison facility and the prisoners from Pointe Blanche will be transferred to Cay Hill instead of the Police Station.
In the meantime, a few neighbors living in Cay Hill already contacted a lawyer to file a court case against Government namely the Minister of Justice for establishing a prison in Cay Hill, a residential area. The neighbors said that so far government has not published the request for a hindrance permit so that they could contest the intention of government. The neighbors said they already checked with VROM to see if the necessary requests were submitted but they were unable to acquire that information. Sources say all the necessary paperwork was done at the Justice Ministry and the Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning. They said Samir Andrewos (the owner of "The Box") did not have a choice when discussing because he did not obtain the necessary permits when he was constructing the building.
SMN News learnt that the Minister of Justice already concluded all paperwork since a contract was signed between the Minister of Justice Roland Duncan and Samir Andrewos on Friday last week. The source said that government agreed to rent the building from Andrewos or he would have to demolish the top floor since the owner did not obtain a building permit for the third floor from VROM. SMN News further learnt that Andrewos accepted the offer since he did not want to lose his investment. The source further explained that government also intends to build a sewage plant in Cay Hill not far away from "The Box" which was constructed under the name Olzina NV.
SMN News also learnt that the Minister of Justice intends to move his office from A.T. Illidge Road to "The Box" when it is completed. Efforts made to get a comment from the Minister proved futile on Wednesday. However, it must be noted that the Minister announced some weeks ago at the Council of Ministers press briefing that he was busy discussing with someone to rent their property to house a prison.
About "The Box"
On July 29 2010, the National Alliance/ Heyliger executive council voted against granting Olzina NV a variance permit while members of the Democratic Party faction in the island council voted in favor. At the time, the commissioner in charge of housing Theo Heyliger also voted against the proposal his executive council submitted to the Island Council which was based on a decision the executive council took on October 20 2009. Heyliger had submitted his own proposal to the council which was to grant Olzina NV the variance permit.
The developer Samir Andrewos took government to court demanding a variance permit. The judge ordered the island council to take a decision on the matter. The court ruled that if the Island Council did not take a decision by July 28th 2010 then government would have had to pay a penalty of Naf. 2,500 or a maximum of Naf.5000.00 per day. The developer had also planned to go back to court to contest the decision taken by the Island Council back then. At the time, Heyliger said that a number of mistakes were made when government was handling the request submitted by Olzina NV. Heyliger wanted Olzina NV to comply with the beautification and greenery plan which had to be approved by VROM. Former leader of Government now parliamentarian William Marlin criticized Heyliger for submitting such a proposal to the island council when he in fact voted against granting Olzina NV a variance permit on October 29th 2009. Back then former Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards had even said someone forged his signature when they granted Olzina NV a building permit for two floors. Richards later retracted his statements and said that he signed the permit by mistake. Marlin said if government granted the developer the variance permit it would have set a bad precedence since the government of St. Maarten already has a bad report card in Holland.
VROM Subjected to Controls.
Due to the amount of unscrupulous business that took place at VROM over the years the department is currently under control by Holland since St. Maarten acquired its new status. This was part of the agreements signed in the Netherlands when St. Maarten was negotiating its plan of approach. Sources close to the Ministry of Spatial Planning said that they are now subjected to submit quarterly reports and Ministerial reports to the progress committee in the Netherlands while government has to make sure the department is upgraded. The Ministry had to submit the VROMI Ministerial plan of 2011 to the committee for vetting the source said.
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