MARIGOT: The Collectivité de Saint-Martin, which has been working since 2018 to remove from the lagoon and the shores the wrecks of boats abandoned by their owners after the passage of Hurricane IRMA, is today authorized to proceed with this cleaning, which is long awaited by the institution itself and by the users of these natural areas.
The public contract launched in 2021 by the Collectivité and awarded to the Dutch company Koole Contractors, is now operational. The DEAL has, indeed, published last Tuesday, March 29, the prefectural order bearing the registration of the ICPE (classified installation for the protection of the environment) relating to this public market. The final lock has just jumped and allows the community of Saint-Martin to finally act, after a first rejection of the market in 2019.
The Collectivité and the State also avoid a very important automatic decommitment of European funds allocated to this market, a few hours before the ultimatum from Brussels concerning the European Territorial Cooperation Operational Program (POCTE).
The Collectivity will therefore be able to remove the 140 shipwrecks (BHU) listed in 2018 and store these BHU on the plot A407 (1500m2) provided for this purpose. These wrecks will then be dismantled, cut up and depolluted. A 168m2 decontamination and dismantling area will be installed on the site. The polluting or dangerous waste will be evacuated to the ecosite of Grandes Cayes for a treatment in the European standards. The parts that cannot be cleaned up on the territory will be sent to the European depollution circuits.
Koole Contractors is now in a position to launch the operations and prepare the site. It will take 40 weeks to remove the 140 listed wrecks, so that the coastline of Saint-Martin can be restored to its former glory. The Collectivité de Saint-Martin and its operational teams welcome the outcome of this project, for which elected officials and territorial agents have worked tirelessly over the past few months.
The post Cleaning of the lagoon to proceed appeared first on Faxinfo.
Source: Faxinfo https://www.faxinfo.sx/2022/03/31/cleaning-of-the-lagoon-to-proceed/
