Cruise passenger head tax
increased by one dollar
~ Frans suggests fifty cents for environment ~
PHILIPSBURG--Fifty cents of the one dollar cruise passenger head tax increase should be allocated for environmental protection and conservation projects, National Alliance (NA) Councilman Frans Richardson suggested to the Island Council Tuesday afternoon.
The Council unanimously approved an increase of the head tax from US $5 to $6 in two fifty-cent increments. The first increase will be applied at the end of the year and the other in 2008.
A new security fee of $1 to be levied on cruise passengers was also approved. This fee, common in port around the world since 9-11, has been implemented to cover the cost of investments into security at the port.
Richardson said there are many organisations striving to take care of the environment that are in dire need of funds to continue their work.
He called on the Executive Council and port authorities to find possibilities to improve the environment. St. Maarten has always been a trendsetter in the Caribbean, he added. “It is time to be a trendsetter by focusing on the environment. We have to be competitive [in the cruise industry] but we also need to become more environmental friendly.”
A fifty-cent allocation for the environment “can take us a long way.”
His suggestion was supported by Harbour Affairs Commissioner Theo Heyliger. It is a proposal the new Commissioner of Finance should consider when the third term Democratic Party government takes office next week.
Several environmental concerns were also raised by NA Councilman George Pantophlet based on the Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise and Cargo Facilities expansion project environmental impact study.
Pantophlet suggested that an environment monitoring plan be implemented by the St. Maarten Harbour Group to collect data on smoke emissions, seabed soil quality and noise pollution, information the impact study pointed to as being unavailable.
Answering the questions, Heyliger said while St. Maarten has no specific environmental legislations that regulate noise and smoke emissions while cruise ships are in port, the harbour follows the guidelines of the International Marine Organisation and the International Ship and Port Security (ISPS) regulation.
As for discharging of waste water or dumping waste in port, this is not permitted in St. Maarten, he said.
The Marine Park Ordinance, which regulations activities in the water surrounding the Dutch side, is slated for approval soon, he added.
The new pier planned for the harbour will also decrease the scarring of the ocean floor caused by anchoring, as six cruise ships can berth alongside the two piers, Heyliger said.
