Note: Excerpted with permission from Jeff Berger's Weekly St. Maarten Newsletter, copyright (c) 2005, JMB Communications. Readers can subscribe at www.everythingstmaarten.com.

We interviewed St. Maarten tourism commissioner Theo Heyliger on Tuesday, February 15, about a variety of issues of interest to tourists. Here are many of his comments:

a) Construction of the new Princess Juliana Airport terminal is right on target for opening in the Spring of 2006. We photographed steel last week as it was being erected, and will post those photos in the next several days.

b) The Dr. A. C. Wathey Cruise and Cargo facilities, built a few years ago to accommodate up to four ships simultaneously at the dock, will be expanded within the next year to accommodate up to six ships. More ships can be anchored in the harbor. A record nine ships visited SXM on January 12; we photographed them and will post the photos on our site in the next week or so.

c) The highly successful Great Bay Beach Promenade, which has come to be called "the boardwalk," will be extended west to the Sea Palace Hotel by the beginning of the 2005-2006 tourist season. The boardwalk is expected to be further extended all the way to the just-renovated Great Bay Beach Hotel, by the beginning of the 2006-2007 tourist season.

d) At the Captain Hodge Wharf (in the center of town in front of the courthouse) a large children's playground is planned.

e) A Marine Park is planned on a four-acre plot of land near the Dr. A. C. Wathey cruise and cargo facilities. The park will have sea lions, a swim-with-the-stingrays area, and a swim-with-the-dolphins area located in the edge of the ocean. This project has been discussed for years and will be implemented with great concern for the health and welfare of the dolphins, unlike some other facilities where people swim with dolphins in tanks, causing stress and premature death to many dolphins.

f) A formal 500-car parking area for Philipsburg will be constructed near the University of St. Maarten, where a new government administration building also will be constructed. The current administration building, behind the central parking lot in the middle of town, will be torn down and replaced with a park.

g) Because of the high demand for full-share condominium ownership in SXM, the new Rainbow Beach Club in Cupecoy is virtually sold out; the "Cliff" condominium development, also in Cupecoy, construction of which began only about a week ago, is 40% sold out, and a significant portion of the Aqua Marina development at Point Pirouette is sold out. New hotel / timeshare rooms are under construction (or about to be constructed) at both Caravanserai Resort and at Pelican Resort. Another major mixed-use development by Orient Express Hotels, owners of La Samanna Resort, is well underway in Cupecoy. Heyliger says a major mixed use development project also is coming to Cay Bay, the now undeveloped area below and to the left of the observation area atop Cay Hill.

h) Back Street in Philipsburg will be redeveloped. Heyliger says that studies underway are taking into consideration whether parking will be allowed, how the street is to be designed (bricks like Front Street, or pavement), sidewalks, sewage, etc. We'll report on this as it is fleshed out / finalized.

g) Spirit Airlines won't be coming to St. Maarten any time soon. The airline wanted a government subsidy to fly daily from Ft. Lauderdale but the SXM government does not subsidize airlines. Had Sprit come in, a fare war between them and AA, flying from Miami, would have been a certainty. (If you want access to low fare information to SXM from everywhere and don't have the time or inclination to search it out on your own, join JMB Website Supporters; see www.jmbcommnications.com/paypal.html.)

h) The suggestion that a tunnel replace the Simpson Bay drawbridge (which did not come from us) won't be implemented. "That would take my entire budget for three years in a row," Theo told us.

i) The next-to-last required land-taking for a new roundabout at the foot of Cole Bay Hill occurred within the last week. Officials hope to complete land-taking and have the roundabout in place by the beginning of 2006, or sooner (we think much sooner). This should significantly help Cole Bay / Simpson Bay traffic.

j) The island is continuing to examine a number of alternative ideas, including some from us, for alleviating the still-heavy seasonal traffic in Simpson Bay which will be at its seasonal worst in a couple of weeks as the Heineken Regatta begins. (More on our proposals will be in future issues of this newsletter.)

k) An entirely new force of 20 police officers is being trained and prepared for dispatch along the boardwalk in Philipsburg. As we reported previously, a second building like the popular St. Rose Arcade is planned for the western section of the boardwalk. The boardwalk and the reconstruction/beautification of Front Street are projects for which planning had begun in 1999. The current boardwalk was opened a year ago, and the Front Street beautification project was completed in December, 2004.

l) The island is in negotiations now with Marriott Hotels regarding a possible resort at Dawn Beach. Heyliger says nothing is imminent on another rumored project concerning Four Seasons hotels.

We're in frequent contact with island tourism officials and will continue to report island news from them as we receive it. We currently have no further news on the Mullet Bay Resort saga.