Kadaster Director Benjamin Ortega (left), and the Dean of the Bar Association, Zylena Bary meet as part of Kadaster’s ongoing outreach to professional stakeholders.
PHILIPSBURG--In a bid to improve service accessibility and enhance efficiency, Kadaster St. Maarten has introduced a new credit line starting from Cg. 5,000, available to eligible clients, including legal professionals.
The initiative, announced following a recent meeting between Kadaster Director Benjamin Ortega and Bar Association Dean Zylena Bary, includes a 60-day payment term from the date of invoice and aims to support timely, equitable access to Kadaster’s services.
The credit line will allow legal professionals involved in regulatory processes to formally request services, receive official invoices, and use a new standardised submission form – soon to be shared with the Bar Association – to simplify the engagement process.
In addition to the credit facility, Ortega and Bary discussed Kadaster’s upcoming Geographic Information System (GIS) platform, expected to launch before July 2025.
Kadaster’s upcoming online platform, expected to launch by the second quarter of 2025, will feature interactive functionality similar to Google Maps. Through this new system, clients will be able to submit service requests online, access spatial data via a subscription-based model, and eliminate the need for in-person visits.
This digital transformation is designed to significantly enhance efficiency, particularly in legal and administrative procedures, by providing faster, more convenient access to essential cadastral and mapping services.
This digital tool represents a significant step in Kadaster’s modernisation, aimed at improving turnaround times and providing more user-friendly access to cadastral data and mapping services.
The meeting is part of Kadaster’s ongoing outreach to the legal community, following similar engagements with the notarial sector. To further support lawyers, Kadaster will host an information session specifically for members of the Bar Association, providing detailed insight into services like land registration and digital innovations.
Dean Bary praised Ortega’s proactive efforts to address administrative challenges and implement practical solutions that benefit the legal profession. She expressed optimism for continued collaboration and emphasized the importance of tracking the progress of these initiatives.
With about 50 legal professionals in St. Maarten and nearly 400 across the Dutch Caribbean represented by the Bar Association, the credit line is expected to particularly benefit smaller law firms that may struggle with upfront payments. This measure is anticipated to improve both accessibility and overall efficiency for legal service providers.
