Illegal construction listed as environmental crime

January 16, 2012 2:51 PM

PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten has seen a trend over the years with developers, construction companies and private individuals who build on a large scale without or not in accordance with building permits.

This is viewed as an environmental crime that may have a negative effect on the economy and quality of life.
 
Ministry of VROMI took action recently against environmental crime. After repeated warnings had gone unheeded, most of the illegally constructed sections of Karakter Beach Bar were demolished by the Ministry of VROMI on December 13.
 
The demolition order was supported by the fact that the principals of Karakter were not in possession of the relevant permits and the construction was not in compliance with the Building Ordinance and other applicable policies and regulations of the Government.
 
According to the Crime Pattern Analysis CBA report, a near-300-page document on general and organised crime in St. Maarten presented to Justice Minister Roland Duncan by Attorney General Dick Piar last week Wednesday, 20 per cent of buildings are constructed entirely without a permit; the remainder seldom comply with the permits they have received.
 
This has given rise to a proliferation of illegal buildings, both commercial and residential. It is believed that these detract from the quality of life for residents and tourists to St. Maarten, and may damage the economy and tourism. For this reason, combating illegal building activity should be made a priority.
 
However, the CBA report says this will be possible only once the inspection services have been assigned sufficient inspection and prosecution resources. At the present time, illegal building and renovation work occurs too extensively to be combated effectively.
 
Another factor that hampers attempts to combat this is that government officials too frequently have commercial interest in building projects, so they attempt to circumvent regulations and inspections. Here, too, change is necessary if attempts to combat illegal building activities are to be successful.
 
Another problem of an environmental nature is the large-scale and widespread discharge of waste water by illegal migrants, local residents and entrepreneurs. They discharge waste water and sewerage into the ground and the lagoons of St. Maarten on a large scale.
 
Tackling illegal discharge of this kind merits priority in light of the extent of the problem and the damage it causes to the public domain and the ecological system. At the present time, however, discharging is mainly a problem of an administrative nature, as many people who commit such offences have little or no access to an infrastructure that processes waste water.
 
CBA concludes that only once the necessary infrastructure has been provided can the monitoring of environmental pollution be intensified.

(Source: The Daily Herald)

16 January 2012