Back in July of this year, the Minister of Vromi announced the signing of an MOU with a Canadian company, Envirogreen Energy Inc. According to the statement of the Minister in July about the signing, the company is studying the power purchase agreement (PPA) and the concession. Furthermore according to the Minister this company will not charge the government of St. Maarten anything. Further than this statement in July, we have not heard from government or GEBE regarding respectively the concession or the PPA.
With all the talk going on about the dump site in Philipsburg, the extra garbage because of the hurricane and the recent fires, the question begs, where are we with this concession and the waste to energy project?
“Not wanting to waste any time with questions to the Minister, which would most probably go unanswered, contact was sought with the company. “
“On a hunch, I invited the principals of Envirogreen to have an audience with Parliament and present their plans for the dump site in Philipsburg. “
I was pleasantly surprised with the quick reaction to this invitation by Envirogreen’s COO, Mr. Quade.
I therefore look forward to his/their visit to St. Maarten before year’s end to provide Parliament and the people of St. Maarten with some insight into what can be expected and the timeframe involved.
Parliament will be on recess later this month, but I am sure members will be willing to interrupt their recess to hear about this vital project.
“As a Parliament, we can not sit back and wait until government decides it is time to inform the Parliament and the general public about matters of vital importance to our wellbeing.”
Such an undertaking must be widely communicated to ensure openness, as we have seen in the past too many of these waste management attempts fall by the wayside, without any explanation as to why by those who lead these projects on behalf of the government.