President Michel visits Plaisance-Districts to address social ills |18 September 2006

The Head of State said this on Saturday after visiting many parts of Plaisance District where he was apprised of different social ills by residents, which included substance abuse and apathy to work by young people.

The residents approached and briefed him on different issues during an extensive tour he made of water, housing and road projects within the district.

“There are social problems in Plaisance as there are in other districts, and having gone round this and other districts, I think it is important to empower the communities themselves to study the problems and propose solutions.

“In this respect, I have asked the ministries responsible for Community Development and Social Affairs, as well as other ministries like Health and Education, to work
together and form committees in all the districts so that people who actually live in those districts help to identify the problems and propose solutions,” he said.

He said that way, the government will be able to come up with, and implement practical solutions to resolve the problems.

Talking about the developments he inspected, he noted that there are a number of ongoing housing projects in Plaisance, the construction of which is going on well despite temporary delays related to occasional shortages of materials.

“We have also visited other sites where we are proposing to build more houses over the next few months and the next few years in an accelerated programme,” President Michel said.

The President was accompanied by Minister Joel Morgan of the Ministry of Land Use & Habitat (MLUH), and top officials and technicians from MLUH and of the Land Transport Division (LTD).

Minister Morgan said there are 104 units worth R29 million that are programmed to start or are under construction within Plaisance.

“We are planning another 140 units which will further help us to meet the demand for housing within this district,” he said.

The housing projects President Michel and his entourage visited included the Sacos Development and the Kan Gard Estate at Mont Fleuri, the Ex-Esterilla Dufresne at Copolia, as well as newly occupied flats that have replaced emergency houses at La Louise.
President Michel also took the opportunity to visit access roads that his visiting team said need to be improved.

“I think it is better for people to have easier access to their homes. In some places it is very difficult. We have to build steps and paths in others and also motorable roads where practicable. We are looking at all these possibilities together with the districts, to see how we can better improve access,” said President Michel, who was also accompanied by the Member of the National Assembly for Plaisance, Ivy Edmond, and by Marjory Marcelin, from the district’s administration office.

The director general for LTD, Alone Edmond, took the opportunity to appeal to land owners to contribute to access road projects by granting way leave where necessary.

At Copolia, President Michel and his entourage climbed to the site of an elevated 100 kilolitre water storage tank that has just been constructed at R500,000, improving the supply of water to 150 residents.

The chairman of the Public Utilities Corporation (PUC) Philippe Morin, and the managing director of PUC’s Water and Sewerage Division, Stephen Rousseau, joined the team which toured the hilly district largely on foot, during the climb to the site of the tank.