Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
Dear Editor,
We have been following with keen attention all the activities that have been taking place at the Harbour Group of Companies over the last couple of years. In a media report some time ago the CFT stated that the Harbour Group of Companies refused to open its books for the government of St. Maarten, the shareholder of the company. Based on the 2013 financial statements acquired by one of the dailies, many irregularities were mentioned in the article. Perhaps it is time for us to revisit that article again. It was stated that the board members were paid approximately US $8,000.00 a month for attending only four meetings for the year; advances in the tune of some US $160,000.00 were given to employees and last but not least the loan agreement between St. Maarten Crane Co. N.V. a subsidiary of St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies and Octavio Holdings, Inc. established in Panama with a whopping interest rate of 8 per cent, the highest amongst all the loans at the harbour.
In September of 2012 the Cruise Terminal building was expanded, adding two commercial spaces and increase the size of the office of the CEO. During a debate in Parliament, one of the MPs' stated that the project was costing the harbour some US $1.3 million dollars, a hefty sum of money for that project. The OSPP would like to know what the cost of this expansion was. Who was the general contractor and the sub-contractor involved in this project? Was there a lobbyist involved? If yes, how much was this lobbyist paid and who is the lobbyist? Is the lobbyist a member of Parliament or affiliated to any of the parties in Parliament or independent members at this moment? In a previous press release we stated that whatever happens in the dark will surely come out in the light. We also talked about ship jumpers, church jumpers and now party jumpers and that all of them are doing it for their own personal interests and certainly not for the people.
On the front page of one of the dailies on March 6, 2015, the headline stated that a major seafront project ready to go 'full steam', St. Maarten Quarter Development NV. These investors have met with the government and the Parliament of St. Maarten and have made a beautiful presentation. All indications are that this project is good for St. Maarten, it will provide employment opportunities for our people and it is good for our tourist product.
The article also stated that the general contractor for this project is Ballast Needam. The OSPP wants to know what type of guarantees are there to make sure that the local contractors would participate in this project and after it is completed that our people will find employment at this establishment.
Too often we hear when a presentation is being made to the government that employment opportunities will be given to our people only to find out that it was only part of the presentation to sell their plans. But that the investors have different ideas about the participation of the local contractors and their employment plans once they have all the permits and guarantees from the government.
The only persons who benefits outright from these types of projects are our scrupulous politicians and the lobbyists. Most of the times, if not all the times, the politicians are in the pockets of these investors and would not raise a finger when irregularities are brought to their attention
It is very ironic that while all the celebrations were taking place regarding the St. Maarten Quarter Development project in March 9, 2015, Zebec Development N.V. wrote an article in the other daily indicating that they are embroiled in litigation with the harbour in the tune of some US $100 million. This project also indicated that the economic impact would be significant just like St. Maarten Quarter Development N.V.
The OSPP would like to know why the harbour engaged in a project development (Harbour Village) with Zebec Development N.V. in 2010 knowing that they had made some commitments some eight years ago to St. Maarten Quarter Development N.V.
Could St. Maarten in particular, the harbour carry out these two major projects at the same time? Was the same land/waterfront going to be used by the two developers? Why does one project have priority over the other, since both of them indicated that the economic impact for St. Maarten would be significant? Are there lobbyists involved in these projects also? If yes, who are these lobbyists and are they affiliated to any of the parties or members of the government?
While we agree that St. Maarten must take a lead and not be caught with her pants down once Cuba opens up, we should not do it recklessly and definitely not for the sake of some lobbyists and scrupulous politicians. The OSPP strongly supports Parliament issuing an urgent instruction to the government to have an operational audit done at the harbour, better late than never. Many of the concerns of the people would then be brought to light for once and for all. The people still want to know amongst other things about the security contract with Checkmate with an increase of US $2.2 million. This issue should not be swept under the rug because of the St. Maarten Quarter project that is about to come on line.
Let's get serious St. Maarten, we need an operational audit done at the St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies and let the chips fall wherever they have to.
Lenny Priest
Leader of One St. Maarten People Party
