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PHILIPSBURG--National Alliance (NA) leader Member of Parliament William Marlin was in favour of leasing Emilio Wilson Estate to Rainforest Adventure for the creation of zip-line attraction when he was Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment an Infrastructure VROMI in July 2012.
Marlin's support for Rainforest could be seen clearly in an excerpt from the Minutes of the Council of Ministers meeting of July 5, 2012, United People's (UP) party leader Member of Parliament Theo Heyliger told Parliament Thursday in the Plenary Session on the budget. He said he had obtained the page and other documents from a bag of papers marked "to be burnt" that was left behind when Marlin demitted office in May 2013.
According to the minutes, "In Minister Marlin's opinion, if the entire property is purchased then Government becomes the landowner and the property can then be rented to the Rainforest Group."
Marlin was very critical of the Rainforest plans during the budget debate this week, and of government for considering the possible granting of a long lease to the company. He was firmly for the protection of the estate as a heritage and nature area for the country and the prevention of development on the land acquired by government in December 2014.
Marlin now is also not in favour of development on the property for the sake of generating income.
However, he had a different vision as a minister in 2012, as the Minutes of the Council of Ministers' meeting of July 6 of that year show.
The Minutes state: "If government owns the entire estate and leases it to Rainforest Group then it will generate additional funds."
