ARTICLE - DOWNTOWN BUSINESS OWNERS FRUSTRATED

DOWNTOWN P-AU-P BUSINESS OWNERS VENT FRUSTRATIONS WITH REBUILDING EFFORTS
(Defend Haiti) - By Samuel Maxime

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Business leaders in the capital city's downtown area met with the Mayor of Port-au-Prince, Muscadin Jean-Yves Jason to discuss plans for the downtown but the group preferred to vent their frustrations at the rebuilding efforts.

Ayiti Kale Je, through a series of investigative journalism articles, with AlterPresse, SAKS Radio and Refraka is looking to answer the question 'what's blocking the capital's path to reconstruction?'

"We can't wait any longer! This is a super project and we have participated from the beginning and we congratulate you, but we can't keep waiting!" were the words of Michelle Mourra, a businesswoman who founded SOS Centreville, a group of downtown property owners.

With 17 months having passed since the catastrophic earthquake which destroyed or seriously damaged an estimated $4.3 billion worth of homes, businesses and institutions, the group met with the Port-au-Prince Mayor at the six story Digicel building that withstood the earthquake though others around it collapsed.

At the meeting Mayor Jason had given the group of about 100 property owners who are some of the wealthiest Haitians the first glimpse of a plan being developed by the city but the group was more inclined to vent frustrations than to consider new plans.

It was brought to light that 5 months ago on the anniversary of the earthquake, January 12 2011, the City Hall was in the press for laying the "first stone" for their new building and five months later Le Nouvelliste in a newspaper headline asked "when will the second stone be laid?"

Frédéric Baboun, one of the attendees was quoted by AKJ imploring to the Mayor, “you are the first citizen of the city, we don’t know who to ask anymore! You need to accept your responsibilities because we are tired of seeing our buildings downtown be destroyed… We’ve been listening to experts for 15 months!”

Baboun was referring to the decline of the zone because thieves have taken advantage of the chaos and have stolen many city and private property fixtures including toilets. The rubble removal that these citizens had hoped for has not been done, as "downtown traffic is often at a stand-still as buses and cars fight mounds of garbage, piles of rubble and an explosion of street vendors."

The SOS Centreville founder pleaded with the Mayor, warning that downtown Port-au-Prince could turn into a ghost town as businesses move north towards Delmas and Petion-ville.