Newly sworn-in Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin called re-establishing cooperation with the northern part of the island “pivotal” (see Tuesday paper). That is refreshing, as there appears to have been a bit of distance – and not just in a geographical sense – between the governments in Philipsburg and Marigot lately.
The latter is somewhat understandable after the hard time given a legitimate Dutch-side business doing some work on its marina at Oyster Pond in 2016, due to the still-unresolved border issue there. Former Prime Minister William Marlin subsequently did not attend official St. Martin/St. Maarten Day celebrations hosted by the French side that year.
What’s worse, the dispute was later used as reason to basically shelve the joint sewage project for Cole Bay that is crucial to preventing even more pollution of the entire area. The matter came up again earlier this week, when Member of Parliament (MP) Claret Connor said a court case regarding the – later reversed – decision to acquire land for the wastewater treatment facility made in the final days of the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet, of which he had been part, now unjustly impeded him from becoming a Minister again.
In the meantime, nothing seems to be happening regarding the project for which the European Union (EU) had made financial means available. These funds were already at risk back then because of the delay and it’s not clear whether they have been lost altogether by now.
The fact is that without such a purification plant, dirty water will keep flowing through the area, much of it ending up in Simpson Bay Lagoon. Considering also the importance of the inlet to the local marine industry that accounted for 15 per cent of the local tourism economy before it was decimated by Hurricane Irma, this situation may be allowed to continue not a minute longer than necessary.
