MADAME ESTATE – The Windward Islands Bank (WIB) would like to inform its customers and visitors to the island that its ATM at Madame Estate SOL Gas Station is now open. WIB – Your Partner in Progress
PHILIPSBURG - On Monday August 5th a well-known male repeat offender identified with initials D.A. for whom a warrant for his arrest was issued by the public prosecutor was arrested by police, according to a statement.
The suspect was arrested suspected of stealing a car. The suspect was taken to the police headquarters and handed over to the detective department for questioning and further investigation. The suspect remains in custody. (Sint Maarten Police Force)
SINT MAARTEN/CURACAO – On July 31, 2019, the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard out at sea with a Metal Shark vessel intercepted a Venezuelan Bark vessel in the territorial waters of Curacao. Onboard there were 10 persons.
During the interception process, it appeared that the Bark had started to sink. The 10-persons onboard who were of various nationalities, were taken to the Coast Guard Support Base and turned over to the Curacao Police Force for further processing.
The Bark which was partially sunk, was taken to the Parera Marine Base by the Coast Guard Cutter Jaguar.
The next day, August 1, the Bark with the assistance of divers from the Marines and equipment from the Curacao Fire Department, the water was pumped out of the vessel and taken out of the water.
Once the vessel was taken out of the water, a joint search took place comprising of Coast Guard personnel, Customs and a team from the Royal Dutch Naval vessel Zr.Ms. Groningen.
This resulted in 800 kilos of cocaine being found in hidden compartments onboard the vessel. The drugs on the order of the Public Prosecution Service were destroyed and the persons who were onboard are now considered suspects.
SINT MAARTEN/TRINIDAD - Caribbean Airlines advises that due to a disruption of service on the domestic air bridge of August 4, 2019 the airline has consolidated and rescheduled some of its services on the domestic air bridge for today, August 5, 2019.
As a matter of priority, all passengers holding confirmed bookings for August 4 and August 5, have been fully accommodated.
The airline is working to move stand-by passengers out of Tobago and the airline’s 737 fleet is being used to support its domestic operations as required. Caribbean Airlines reassures its valued customers that contingencies are in place, and thanks all travellers for their support and understanding.
SINT MAARTEN/TOBAGO - Recently, Caribbean Bride Magazine in partnership with the Tobago Tourism Agency Ltd. and Mount Irvine Bay Resort hosted a three-day educational seminar for local stakeholders in the wedding niche in
Tobago.
The event was part of the broader strategy of Tobago Tourism Ltd. To promote destination weddings and honeymoons bookings on the island. Presenters at the event which was held at Mount Irvine Bay Resort included Andrea Lown, JoAnne Brown, Brian Green, Deepa Mahal and Laura Beauparlant. They covered topics ranging from branding for small businesses, current trends in the destination wedding industry, marketing for wedding vendors and client management.
CEO of Tobago Tourism Agency Ltd. Mr. Louis Lewis stated, “We are partnering with Caribbean Bride to host Bride Villa to strengthen Tobago’s wedding and honeymoon niche tourism product. This event
provides opportunities for local vendors to learn from renowned industry experts about the tools and trends to become relevant in the international market, while raising the profile of Tobago as a premier
romance destination.”
Caribbean Bride also launched their CB Academy at the event. The course was developed as a way to further educate destination wedding vendors to the needs of international brides and also offer tips to manage and market their businesses. Caribbean Bride’s Publisher Dave Cox explained one of the biggest hurdles for couples looking to book destination weddings is finding trusted vendors online. In general,
couples and are nervous about the skill level and professionalism of vendors in the region. “Our goal with the CB Academy is to educate regional vendors and also validate them with Caribbean Bride’s stamp of approval,” he states. Seventy successful attendees completed the course and were given a certificate and a digital badge that they can now publish on their website and social media platforms.
Mr. Cox who was also a presenter at the event stated, “Tobago is a tiny island packed with natural beauty and talented vendors. Our goal here was to polish this raw potential to make them more attractive to international brides and overall make the island more prominent as a top destination for romance travel.” The event was produced with the help of Toronto media agency Digital Coconut Inc. specializing in travel and tourism.
ABOUT CARIBBEAN BRIDE
Caribbean Bride is the ultimate guide to destination weddings it paradise. It promotes romance travel in Caribbean and Mexico and helps couple find the perfect destination, wedding vendors and offers planning tips. The magazine is published annually in January and distributed in print in Toronto, London and New York and seven islands in the Caribbean.
SINT MAARTEN/THE NETHERLANDS – Fire brigade officials are extremely concerned about the large increase in high rise developments in the Netherlands in which safety is too often ‘bottom of the list of priorities’, the AD said on Friday.
Esther Liegen, The Hague’s fire chief and head of the brigade’s incident unit, told the paper that fire safety cannot always be guaranteed, given the spate of new tower blocks.
‘Our ladders only reach up to 30 metres,’ she said. ‘Higher than that we have to tackle the fire from inside the building and if an entire tower goes up in flames, we really won’t be able to save people.’
Lieben says developers should make safety a priority in new developments, with better, more fire-resistant materials, fire-resistant doors, and sprinkler systems. These are already compulsory for buildings of over 70 metres high, but the rules are less strict below this, the AD said.
In addition, local authorities should make sure that there is room for fire engines to do their job in densely populated areas, the fire chief warned.
For example, The Hague is planning to build lots of high-rise residential blocks around the Hollandse Spoor railway station and ‘the infrastructure must be done properly to make sure densely populated areas can still be reached,’ Lieben said.
(DutchNews)
SINT MAARTEN (CAY HILL) - St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) has closed one of its open tenders with the signing of the contract for the installation of new standby generators. The tender was finalized on July 19, with the contract being awarded to Dynaf after a thorough evaluation of all bids submitted.
This project, funded by the World Bank, consists of the replacement of the existing standby generator for the SMMC building as well as the installation of a new standby generator for the Care Complex building.
SMMC’s Project Manager, Ingeborg Verwoerdt, stated: "Generators are vital to hospitals, they keep critical systems such as resuscitation and life-saving machines online. It is important that we have generators that can provide the much-needed support for the current and expected capacity increases as we expand our services.
The project is estimated to complete mid December 2019. Prior to installation electrical upgrades and civil works will take place in preparation for the new generators.
In order to participate in World Bank funded projects, companies are invited to register via the “Renovation & Reconstruction” section on the SMMC website: https://smmc.sx/Renovation-Reconstruction/Projects
For project information, interested companies can check the World Bank section on SMMC website under: https://smmc.sx/Renovation-Reconstruction/Projects or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
SINT MAARTEN (PHILIPSBURG) - The board of the St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) has requested an urgent meeting with the Council of Ministers of St. Maarten to address, among other things, the persistent, unprofessional and willfully misleading statements being made by the Minister of Tourism Stuart Johnson about the SCDF.
The SCDF is of the opinion that the Minister is willfully using social media rumors and statements to paint a narrative against the SCDF to fulfill a different agenda. However, the board noted, the SCDF is probably one of the few foundations on St. Maarten that has always been in full compliance with whatever government has requested, most notably as it relates to obtaining an annual incidental subsidy from government.
The board said the Minister is fully aware of what he is doing when using statements such as “resistance” and “people must know”. The SCDF has always been cooperative with successive governments as records of several meetings will show including a record number of meetings with this Minister and his departments since he was sworn in.
“All of our financials are with government and are public. SCDF, as we have stated numerous times before, will fully cooperate with the SOAB and even look forward to parts of that final report that will show how government has sometimes hindered, not helped, the overall development of Carnival,” the SCDF board said.
The board members of the SCDF, all volunteers, even interrupted their annual summer break with their families to discuss the SOAB engagement letter and gave the President of the foundation Alston Lourens permission to sign it. Lourens delivered this signed engagement letter to SOAB about two weeks ago which was publicized in the media.
The SCDF board added the Minister continues to mislead the public with statements making it look like government is the only financer of Carnival. In fact, the board continued, government’s subsidy is smaller than all corporate contributions and is only earmarked for marketing, which SCDF has always accounted for. “While we are grateful for government support, the Minister has to stop with this ‘oh the people must know where the money going’ when he knows government has those reports and much more are always discussed in meetings,” the SCDF board said.
“The SCDF has submitted all of its financials annually going back more than a decade. Nobody can challenge this and this is in keeping with the subsidy ordinance,” the board said, adding that the Minister is misleading when he continues to say that audits are required.
“The Minister needs to stop this because then every foundation, not just ours, the Regatta, St. Maarten festival, every foundation would have to produce an audit and they don’t. What foundations produce are compiled financials from established accounting firms and/or registered accounts. This is what the subsidy ordinance requires, nothing else. Prizes ect are operational matters of the SCDF and has nothing to do with government and/or its subsidy. We are a private foundation that seeks government subsidy. We adhere to the requirements to obtain this subsidy and report afterwards. Government should not interfere with the other operations of any foundation.”
The board also said the Minister is making it a habit of telling the public that when he was President of the SCDF he had an audit done. “The Minister is willfully lying or forgot. There was never an audit done under his presidency, it was the exact same compiled financials conducted by PWc. The misleading statements must stop and professional discourse should be the priority,” the SCDF board said.
The board of the SCDF concluded by stating that while the Minister on Friday made it seem like preparations for Carnival 2020 is dependent on an audit, preparations for Carnival 2020 is already well underway. “Our registration has been opened and is going very well, all nights have been allotted for concerts and other events, meetings have been held with long-term corporate partners and we are moving.”
ST. EUSTATIUS - On Thursday, August 1, 2019, a theft was reported in a home located on Kerkweg on St. Eustatius, according to a report from the Caribbean Netherlands Police Force.
Unknown person or persons removed stole some tools, including a welding machine from the home. (RCN Caribbean Netherlands)
GREAT BAY, (DCOMM) – The Acting Minister of Ministry of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Development and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI), Hon. Cornelius de Weever and NV GEBE, have held discussions regarding the housing area behind the former Cake House Building in Cay Hill.
On Wednesday, the electricity supply to the area overloaded causing a power outage and a fire to an electrical pole. The overload of the electricity in that area is due to the illegal ‘drop cord’ connections to the NV GEBE grid and ‘unaccounted’ electrical consumption.
A temporary arrangement for the short-term is being looked at where Government would allow NV GEBE to install low voltage overhead lines in the area behind the former Cake House Building to the residents. This temporary solution is not ideal and created in the interest of public safety and security for the people living in that area.
This would only be a temporary arrangement until a permanent solution has been found for the long-term.
The overloading of the NV GEBE grid in that particular area is undesirable, and in order to prevent an electrical fire or electrocution, all concerned are asking all residents to refrain from using ‘drop cords’ and creating unauthorized connections.
The aforementioned arrangement would partially reduce the risk of any fires and bodily injuries.