Two cruise ships are scheduled in port today, as the high season slowly gets underway. For those catering to the vessels and/or their clients, it’s high time to complete preparations.
The Philipsburg shopping area continues to be in need of various improvements, some of a relatively minor nature. Although infrastructural work has been done there recently, certain details including hazards for pedestrians remain unresolved.
At this point it might be a good idea for both Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Arthur Lambriex and Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI Egbert Doran, accompanied by their respective pertinent staffs, to take a stroll at least through Backstreet and Frontstreet as well as over Boardwalk Boulevard. This way they can witness first-hand what is still amiss and take quick action where needed if feasible, before it gets too busy.
After all, along with Great Bay Beach those are the locations most frequented especially by passengers coming from the terminal either aboard tenders or on foot. The latter is not without risk, however.
It may sound like a broken record, but having thousands of visitors walk along Juancho Irausquin Boulevard as heavy vehicles including 40-foot container trucks drive back and forth to the cargo facility at Point Blanche is a terrible accident waiting to happen, especially when it rains and sections of the side-walk are flooded. Apart from personal grief, the impact of such a tragedy on the tourism economy, should it – God forbid – ever happen, could be devastating.
Plans for a seaside path directly into town have existed for a while but require that all parties established along the envisioned route give their full cooperation. There would be no apparent reason not to, because this is clearly a win-win proposition.
