Port-au-Prince, Towards a clean city?
By Hyppolite Pierre
Late last week, the Ministry of Environment made public a project of sprucing up the face of the capital city, Port-au-Prince. They will spend approximately $US 24,000 (about 600,000 gourdes) in a project that consists of building in concrete garbage disposal throughout the city. This is a laudable project. Will the city finally present a new and cleaner face? Will Port-au-Prince finally acquire the charm of a well-managed city?
Fighting against so many odds
Since 1995 and perhaps even earlier, the State has tried to manage the detritus in Port-au-Prince, with trucks obtained from countries like Taiwan. Anyone who spends a few days in Port-au-Prince can either see some of those trucks picking up garbage throughout the city, or be informed of such by a resident. Yet, the city looks overpopulated and poor, thus miserable. The reasons are many. For one thing, Port-au-Prince has too many shantytowns that are not and cannot be properly managed by the municipality. On the other hand, there are so many poor merchants in the city traveling by foot while selling, or sitting on the side of the road and selling their products, that it becomes a virtual impossibility to maintain the city clean. The municipality would have to first, open up new markets outdoors or indoors, that would keep the merchants away from the streets where they sell their products. Right now as it stands, those who buy products from those merchants simply dispose of their empty bottle or the banana peel by throwing it onto the street.
On the other hand, even when the State tries to maintain the city clean, it bumps into the difficulty of having to deal with politicians who use garbage as a political statement. Earlier this year for instance, the GOH threatened to place cameras at some strategic positions where they suspected many people were deliberately throwing garbage, after the trucks would pass to pick up the trash.
Resolving the "trash" problem
The report also stated that 98,000 gourdes ($US 4,000) has been allocated for training of 60 new environmental agents who will be deployed throughout the city. This shows once again that there is the intention to resolve the trash issue. Are there any rules and regulations on the book, or will there be, to deal with violators? If so, is there any fine to pay if one is found in violation of those rules? Is there any public campaign of awareness over the issue of sanitation of the city being waged? What will be specifically the role of those environmental agents? Will they depend exclusively on the Ministry of Environment, or will they also work with the municipal authorities?
Beautifying Port-au-Prince or at least keeping it clean is a difficult issue that requires coordination between the Police, the environmental agents (the Ministry of Environment), and even groups of citizens who are determined to keep their neighborhood and city clean. The hope of beautifying Port-au-Prince is laudable. Reaching that goal is however not easy. Only time will tell whether Port-au-Prince can recover the charm and image that everyone hopes it will.
