PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI Miklos Giterson issued an apology to motorists on Tuesday following reports of severe traffic congestion in Philipsburg related to final repairs and paving being made to a portion of Juancho Yrausquin Boulevard in Pointe Blanche.
The traffic congestion got worse after cruise ship MSC Seaside docked at Port St. Maarten, leading to increased traffic to and from the port.
The works, which started on Sunday, were originally scheduled to finish on Monday when no cruise ships were in port. However, those works were cancelled due to the impending storm and resumed Tuesday.
“It’s obvious that there was an error made in planning and the ship schedules were unfortunately not taken into account. Upon learning of the issue, I immediately ordered the road work to stop and to reopen the road,” Giterson said on Tuesday.
Paving resumed at 8:00pm on Tuesday evening and continues into Wednesday. Minister Giterson once again apologised for any inconveniences and delays caused and will continue to ensure that future road repairs take the cruise ship schedules into consideration.
