Govt faces penalty if land
is not provided by Sept 30
SUCKER GARDEN--A penalty of NAf. 10,000 per day will be levied against government if the 8,000 square metres of Great Salt Pond being filled in for the operations of Bouwbedrijf Boven Winden (BBW) is not ready on September 30.
The penalty can be levied against government by BBW for up to a maximum of NAf. 1 million based on a judge’s decision.
Speaking at Wednesday’s Executive Council press briefing, Environmental Development and Property Management Commissioner Roy Marlin said the penalty was the result of a court case against government by BBW that had arisen when no land was provided for the company to resume its operations after closing down on Airport Boulevard.
BBW had a firm commitment from government since 1998 that land would be provided for its operations as along as the company relinquished its rights of long lease on the Airport Boulevard location, thus making the new Princess Juliana International Airport terminal building possible.
“We boast about our new airport, but with progress come certain disadvantages, and this is one disadvantage of the progress that we are encountering,” Marlin said.
Work is moving swiftly on the Sucker Garden site. The land is being created by filling in the pond with sand dredged from around Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise Pier and the new tender jetty in Great Bay.
As a cost-cutting measure, government chose to wait until now to provide the land by using the dredged sand instead of excavating a hillside to get the needed fill, Marlin said.
Asked about the diminishing capacity of the pond, Marlin said any filling-in would diminish capacity but based on a survey by firm Grabosky and Poort (now Lievense) the maximum area of the pond that could be filled in had not been reached yet.
He refuted the claim by St. Maarten Pride Foundation that government was working in contravention of several studies related to the pond. The creation of an industrial area on Arch Road bordering the pond has been on the books for some time now, as has the ring road around the pond, he added. Both of these projects will require additional filling-in of the pond.
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