Location of land leased to SZV for new office building.
~ Signs MOU with government ~
PHILIPSBURG--The government of St. Maarten has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with SZV to transfer 6,400 square metres of leased land in Cay Hill to Social and Health Insurances SZV to commence with phase one of the development of the Raoul Illidge Sports Complex (RISC) area.
Phase one includes constructing the SZV office building, parking area and a community wellness building.
“The new office building will be future-ready,” said SZV Director Glen Carty. “We’re offering more digital services now and we’ll be ready for the global changes 10-20 years from now.”
He said this land will be not only a space for work and service, but also a space for community and wellness. “We’re creating a space where our community members can work on their health, be active and improve their quality of life,” Carty said.
The transfer of the land to SZV will enable further preparations for the construction plans of the new SZV office building, which will bring significant cost savings for SZV, which pays rent for its current offices.
Minister of Finance Ardwell Irion said in Wednesday’s live Council of Ministers press briefing that this is one of the measures the government has taken to be able to reduce its civil servants’ medical coverage OZR debt. This was be carried out via a pre-payment of long lease for a certain number of years. He noted that this process had started in 2019 but had been delayed due to the pandemic.
“In addition to that, SZV has committed to the partial financing of an Olympic-size swimming pool that will also be in that location. This was a request for many years now from our swimmers on the island and SZV has continued to commit to that,” said Irion.
Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor VSA Omar Ottley said, “This is an important project for our community, because we are saving millions in public funds and investing this in a development where the community benefits in real time. The investment towards wellness and being future-ready are aspects of this project we can all be proud of as St. Maarteners.”
At the signing ceremony of the MOU between the government and SZV, Carty thanked the government for its commitment to the project. “I’d like to thank Minister of Finance Ardwell Irion for starting this partnership in 2019 and getting us here.
“To Minister of VSA Omar Ottley, I would like to thank you for supporting the long-term vision for our country and ensuring that projects are lifted off the shelves, dusted and becoming a reality.
“Minister of VROMI [Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure – Ed.] Jurendy Doran, thank you for your support and your ministry for the commitment to work together for the next stages of formalisation.”
Carty further thanked Christian Grannum of the Finance Ministry and Sean Joseph of the VROMI Ministry for the role they had played behind the scenes.
SZV held a bidding in 2021 for the architectural design of the office building and parking spaces. The bid was won by Independent Consulting Engineers (ICE), which, in collaboration with Caribbean Engineering and Consulting Company and Arka Architecture, is executing the development and design of phase one.
“Our new office building is projected to be completed in 2024 and will be the home of our people-centric organisational culture. Our employees will have a space where they can connect with colleagues and collaborate with co-workers.
“Our clients will benefit from this, as all efforts are geared towards supporting wellness and providing excellent digital services,” said Chief Transition Officer (CTO) Parveen Boertje.
