The Prime Minister of St. Maarten the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams on Friday commented on the recent developments regarding the completion and use of the new Government Administration Building. During her weekly radio program One on One with the Prime Minister, the PM gave clarification on the recent handing over of the Government Administration Building and her instruction to establish a taskforce to ensure that Government Departments can move into the new building as smoothly as possible; “Indeed what a Saga that has been over the years. Since the first agreement which was signed with the developer RGM in 2003 there have been many issues that had to be clarified and addressed. Because again, in a political year and with elections being so close, many are using the Government Building as part of their politicking tactics.
“The understanding at that time was that the shell of the building would be built by RGM and would remain in the possession of RGM with Government renting the building. After several amendments to the original development agreement the building was started. However, in June of 2009 the then Government issued a building stop on the Government Building. Of course in 2010 we had a brand new Government of country St. Maarten and a lease agreement was being explored which would be signed, however several matters soon surfaced, specifically with regards to disagreements between RGM and Government, amongst which the insuring of the building, which resulted in numerous court cases.
“This week we were able to pay RGM what was owed to them and we received the deed so that Government can now continue with the finishing of the building and the moving in of the civil service. Fortunately we have the issues behind us and have resolved the dilemmas that we had to face and we can now move forward. I have therefore instructed that a taskforce be established to ensure that we move into the Government building as soon as possible. This will be humongous undertaking to get government moved into the new building and we need to ensure that the process to move into the building happens smoothly and quickly and I look forward to seeing this completed within a comfortable timeframe,” commented Prime Minister Wescot-Williams.
