POND ISLAND--A World Bank team is in the country to finalise its assessment for the creation of an “Emergency Debris Management” project totalling some US $25 million for the constantly-burning Philipsburg dumpsite.
Funding comes from the World Bank-administered Dutch Trust Fund set up to aid St. Maarten’s recovery post-Hurricane Irma.
The project is in its final stages of preparation, according to Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI Miklos Giterson. Specific focus is placed on the handling of construction and demolition waste, clearing the remaining hurricane debris from the country, removal of boat wrecks from Simpson Bay Lagoon and closing down the “Irma” dumpsite on Pond Island.
Management of the dump “more effectively in the shortest possible term” is also a top priority of the project,, as is the suppression of fires on the dump.
The Ministry of Public Health is part of the project. One area in which the ministry will be involved is working with a team testing air quality at the dump.
A team of fire suppression experts is also in the country working with government and the Fire Department on an action plan to tackle and eliminate fires and flare-ups at the dump.
