In the presence of the 1st vice-president, Valérie Damaseau, the president of the Community, Daniel Gibbs made a new point last Thursday on the news and the decisions taken by the executive.
• Air travel
As you have seen, the government is gradually easing the restrictions as part of phase 2 of the deconfinement. But not all of them are fully lifted.
The lock relating to the compelling reasons to travel between the territories of the French Antilles was lifted Monday June 8, after the voices of communities and socio-professionals united to denounce this restriction which removed any possibility of regional tourism during the summer period .
According to the latest negotiations carried out jointly by local authorities and economic players in the French West Indies, this lifting should also concern passengers departing from France from June 22.
It is a first victory which now authorizes pleasure trips between the islands of the Antilles, and soon with the national territory. But satisfaction will only be real with a relaxation of health restrictions.
Anxious to revive our economy without endangering the health stability of our island, we had asked at the beginning of last week the Prime Minister and the Minister for overseas asking:
- The immediate lifting of the obligation of compelling reasons to travel to and from Saint-Martin;
- The lifting of the “fortnight” from June 22, 2020 and the setting up of a test on departure then on D + 8 for all passengers;
- The official announcement of the lifting of restrictions as soon as possible, in order to encourage reservations for the coming months.
The overseas minister responded last Friday to all the presidents of major communities in the French Antilles proposing the lifting of the compelling reasons for displacement and the replacement of the fortnight by the obligation for travelers to present a negative PCR test carried out in 48 hours before boarding.
We are therefore working with our counterparts in the Antilles and socio-professional organizations in the territories to lift this last lock in order to obtain free movement of people between metropolitan France and the Antilles, from the end of June, with all the same for us a need for screening before departure and 8 days after arrival for any stay of more than a week.
Indeed, it is important to maintain a reasonable and sustainable level of health control in order to revive our economy without compromising its health future.
We therefore welcome the advances that the mobilization of local players has made possible, even if we are very attentive to the choices made to protect our destination.
We had a video conference on this topic with the CCISM, the Tourist Office, FIPCOM, AHSM, FTPE and other economic players on Monday afternoon, so as to unite our voices and obtain satisfaction in as soon as possible.
The economic recovery of our territories depends on it and we will not release the pressure in this area.
Moreover, the Tourist Office of Saint-Martin has set up a holiday operation in the country called "I am Saint-Martin Staycation" to revitalize tourism in our territory in the coming months.
With Hurricane Irma, our socio-professionals suffered enormous economic losses. They have redoubled their efforts in recent years to relaunch their activities in a qualitative and innovative dynamic. Very beautiful hotel and commercial products have emerged.
In December 2019, the blockages generated by the PPRN impacted the peak tourist season, then the global COVID19 pandemic arrived in March.
This health crisis has had considerable consequences on the tourism industry. In this context, local and regional consumption is a priority pending the revival of international tourism.
I AM ST Martin STAYCATION is an operation dedicated to the revival of our economic fabric and to the animation of Saint-Martin during the months of July and August 2020.
This involves reinjecting funds into the local economy and raising awareness among residents of the region's assets.
The Tourist Office devotes 515.000 € of its budget for this rescue operation which will be held during the summer period.
The operation will take place from July 1 to August 31, 2020.
• Creation of the CARE unit (Support Unit for the Regularization of Companies)
While national and local economic aid is established for companies in difficulty, many entrepreneurs have faced a refusal of access to the State Solidarity Fund.
These refusals formulated by the DGFIP, via the Center of Public Finances, are essentially due to omissions or delays in the payment of tax or social charges and are for many cases deadlocked.
Very concerned with helping our entrepreneurs to regularize the situation of their business to enable them to claim public aid, the community has decided to create a territorial unit specially dedicated to this support.
• The CAR cellE is already activated, under the aegis of the Economic delegation chaired by our colleague vice-president Yawo NYUIADZI.
It is a project that we had initiated before the Coronavirus crisis, to support our companies in a general process of regularization and which is today, in view of the economic crisis we are going through, an urgent necessity.
The CCISM is our privileged partner on this system. Its mission will be to provide logistical assistance to companies in their regularization process and we will work with our institutional partners for the establishment of moratoria and access to targeted assistance according to the systems in force.
We will also provide professional training support to these business leaders, through the creation of a Master Class on business management, in partnership with the CCISM.
We have set up a specific email address: care@com-saint-martin.fr.
Business leaders wishing to receive this general support are invited to register now at this address.
It is the strong will of the community of Saint-Martin not to leave you to your fate.
It is a unique opportunity given to you to structure your business and to be eligible for the various public support programs for the sustainability of your business.
It should also be noted that this regularization effort makes it possible to contribute to the public contracts launched by local authorities in French territory.
• Public works and sargassum collection
The Community has announced the resumption of work on the Sandy Ground bridge. They started on Monday June 8 for a week of work. The tests carried out on the bridge this morning proved to be conclusive, which allows normal use to be resumed.
The first bridge liftings are planned from Monday June 15, 2020. From Monday to Saturday inclusive, there will be 2 liftings per day, one at 9:00 am and one at 17:00 pm and on Sundays and public holidays, only one lift per day at 9:00 a.m.
The second phase of work which consists of replacing the bridge deck (its main structure) was rescheduled in July but the new availability of the company means that we have to postpone it by a few weeks. The date of the work will be communicated to you as soon as possible.
The Water Establishment has just relaunched the renovation of the water and sanitation pipes on the Boulevard de Grand-Case.
These major works must imperatively be completed - this is the imperative condition that we set for the establishment of the waters - in November 2020, before the peak tourist season.
We will then have a brand new boulevard.
I finally come to a scourge that has affected the northeast coast of Saint Martin for a few years depending on the stranding phases: and many suffer it, Sargassum algae are back!
As always, many residents are inconvenienced in the Cul de Sac, Mont Vernon and Oyster-Pond (Coralita) sectors.
The presence of Sargassum is a real public health problem in the West Indies and throughout the Caribbean.
But insofar as these algae - which are nevertheless the result of pollution - are above all considered once washed up as waste by the State and not as pollution, their collection is the responsibility of the Communities.
A specific public market for the collection of Sargassum algae was therefore launched last year.
It is a market with purchase orders and by sector which requires the response of the company selected for each collection operation. As of the first alerts, last week, the Collective mobilized the companies awarded the market.
The company assigned to cleaning the beaches of Coralita and Mont Vernon responded favorably to the compulsory administrative consultation. She begins cleaning these two beaches in the next few days.
The company assigned to the cleaning of Cul de Sac beach did not respond to the mandatory administrative consultation, which delays the cleaning of this beach.
We make every effort to mobilize a service provider within the rules imposed by law.
Public procurement procedures are strict, you know, and we abide by these legal obligations. Without a response from the company, we will be forced to restart a procedure.
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