~DP raises outstanding issues~

PHILIPSBURG--The National Alliance (NA)/Heyliger government is seeking to have the firm KEMA conduct an independent cost and quality control/feasibility study of the proposed waste-to-energy plant that is to be built by Windward Roads Infrastructure to tackle the island’s growing garbage problem.

Approval for the control was tabled in the Central Committee Monday, because it will cost more than 100,000 euros, which excesses the amount that the Executive Council is allowed to sign off on without Island Council approval.

Democratic Party (DP) leader/Island Councilwoman Sarah Wescot-Williams said at a party press conference Tuesday that DP had no problem with the matter being sent directly to the Island Council as long as all questions posed are answered in timely manner and a copy of the Terms of Reference is received.

DP members question the independent control included the scope of the study and if government will have to renegotiate contracts based on the results.

Island Councilman Roy Marlin (DP) said that such independent controls are common when government is doing a project, with the aim of ensuring the prices quoted are realistic and, in this case, that the capacity of the waste-to-energy plant is within proportion to the needs of the island.

NA faction members wanted further deliberations in the Central Committee on the hiring of the firm.

Also discussed in the Monday’s meeting was a proposed change to the Island Ordinance on the Spatial Development transition stipulation, in other words the procedure that is to be followed for applying and granting planning/building permits when no guidelines (temporary or otherwise) exist.

Government intends to outsource the development of the pending preparatory resolutions to a private firm. Funding for this has been requested from the Development Fund of the Netherlands Antilles USONA.

Meanwhile, Wescot-Williams has raised several outstanding issues with Central Committee Chairman George Pantophlet; chief among these is a status report from St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies.

The opposition party had requested last year that all government-owned companies give the Island Council – in a central Committee setting – a status report. So far all companies except the harbour group have done so.

“So far we have heard nothing further from or about the harbour,” she said.

Also pending for handling are several topics referred back to the Central Committee during the September 4, 2009 Island Council meeting. On that list are the Code of Conduct for civil servants, the draft law on the Office of the Ombudsman, the new Electoral Law, registration and financing of political parties.

“We simply cannot understand the delay or hesitation about bringing these to the Central Committee [for deliberations],” Wescot-Williams told the press Tuesday.