Minister of VROMI quizzed by Chairman of Parliament during draft national ordinance establishing the budget of Sint Maarten

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – Questions posed by MP Rolando Brison on behalf of the UP Faction to the Honorable Minister of VROMI, Egbert J. Doran.

Environmental Levy

1. Was he able to examine the way the Aruba legislation is put up in terms of how tourist and the tourism industry is directly contributing to the cleanliness, environmental protection of the country?
2. And if the Minister is also in line with that and if he looks forward to implementing such levies or be it if it comes as an initiative as we have planned from the UP party in parliament or in conjunction with the general ordinance?

Windward Roads

• Would it not be preferable for the Ministry of VROMI to have received via the crime fund this money in cash and then be able to contract whoever they want to be able to conduct the works at a value of $2 million dollars rather than them be able to mark up the project or do whichever project how they want?
• What control would the minister have in terms of price control, how do we know that Windward roads won’t just charge fls10 a meter instead of fls2 a meter in order to actually make this $2 million project cost them $200,000?
• What safe guards are in place in that regard? And why is not handled that way?

Long Lease Land

• Can information be provided as to how much long lease land has been given to marinas and or maritime purposes(marinas, boat yards, any such structures) ?
• The Harbor itself, is that long lease?
•  Can we get an indication of how many total square meters of land has been given out for those maritime purposes and how many lease holders there are?

Wrecks in the lagoon

• Were there challenges getting the owners of the wrecks in the Lagoon to respond to the ministry in regards to their responsibility to these wrecks?
•  What are your thoughts on mandating a mandatory insurance on all vessels parked in St.Maarten waters?

Turning Point/Mental Health Foundation

1. What is the status of Turning Point to get land from Government in order to do their necessary expansion?
2.  In regards to the Mental Health Foundation, what is the status for their request for land to be able to expand their facilities?

Planet Hollywood and Kimpton

1. With regards to Plant Hollywood and the Kimpton who filed requests, can the Minister update us on the status of those requests? 
2. What is the relationship like with the Ministry of VROMI and the Government by extension with these developers are they motivated and interested in continuing these projects despite the delays that COVID 19 might have caused for them?

Hospital

1. Can the Minister clarify if there are any requests at the Ministry of VROMI that the hospital is waiting on in order to continue their work and what the progress is in that regard?

Provisional Permit

1. Is there any sort of provision that the Minister could create or consider where there is a provisional permit granted? Is that even legally possible, is that something that the Minister could consider?

Housing Foundation

1. Can the Minister update us on what is the status, what is the interactions like with this foundation?
2.  Is he satisfied with the functioning of the Housing Foundation?
3.  Can he tell us anything about the Housing Foundation and what his plans are to improve it?
4. Would the Minister if not satisfied consider the establishment of a new entity  to manage this?

Condo Levy

• Would the Minister welcome a condo levy?

WorldBank

• What projects are related to VROMI that funding is already moving? IF we can get an indication of what those figures are?

Alegria

• In terms of Alegria, we saw that the appeal was won by the Minister, is that from a legal perspective in terms the legal discussion with Alegria is that over or is there any other cases that are pending right now?
• Has the Minister investigated this further from an internal perspective as to what led to these mistakes happening?
• Have the legal fees incurred by the Government been recovered as per the Judgement?
• Has an internal investigation been conducted to declare who it was responsible for giving the developer the feeling that he was entitled? And also in terms of it being entitled to the price, how did the developer feel that the price that was promised within meetings, letters, or papers was absolutely his entitlement and how do we prevent that from happening in the future?
•  What is being done to prevent that from happening again?

Motion #1: Parliament year 2018/2019

• Has the Minister had any opportunity to fulfill the positions of this motion?
• Can he please give the Parliament an update as to the amounts that are stated in this motion that are NAF1,250,700 ? 
• Has interest been accumulated, have more fees been accumulated?
• What is the debt now and when are we going to collect this money?
• If one removes themselves as a director and shareholder of a company,  the company does not adhere and that company then declares bankrupt, I then remove myself. Is there any recourse for the Government to still be able to hold the managing directors at the time, who signed it, directly responsible for this or is it simply that the company has closed down so that is it?
•  I would like to know from the Ministry of VROMI what his opinion is on that?