ARTICLE - MINUSTAH CLEANS CANALS

MINUSTAH PROVIDES LABOR AND EQUIPMENT TO CLEAN CANALS IN PORT-DE-PAIX
(Defend Haiti) - By Eugene Louicius Micius

PORT-DE-PAIX - A cleaning of canals and streets of Port-de-Paix, Department of North-West was held from Thursday to Saturday last week. For three days, MINUSTAH provided labor and equipment to the mayor.

"Our duty is to help in any way, the public and local authorities to fulfill their mandate," said a project leader who works for the mission, Arsim Shala at the launch of the first phase of this major operation called "Clean Port-de-Paix," to rid the city of filth that has invaded the roads because of clogged drains or flooding.

In addition to the cleaning efforts of the neighborhood Latendrie, where the operation started early on October 6, this remediation project also included the establishment of a sewage disposal and management system of the civil prison, with the Haitian National Police and the mayor of the city.

In all, thirty employees of the United Nations Mission for Stabilization in Haiti (MINUSTAH), dressed in yellow and blue, were armed with shovels, picks, shovels, and scrapers to remove fifty cubic meters of mud, gravel, and alluvium, aided by a tractor and trucks rented for the occassion, to evacuate the waste ...

For the people of Latendrie, this MINUSTAH initiative will certainly have a positive impact on their health and activities every day, because "this waste was a source of disease for residents of the area", in the opinion of Jerome, a local resident.

Sandra who runs a hardware store has the same opinion. "For some time, I lost profits. Many people avoided my shop because of the stench from the canals along the front. I was bombarded with rubbish. Frankly, I can begin to breathe easier."

"I did not look at only the agents of MINUSTAH work. I was also hands-on. I clean the canal and cut the grass. We should take advantage of their presence to launch an assault against the trash in our community, "said Sonel, who has halted construction of his house to come and lend a hand.

As for Peter, a young professor; he invited the mayor to enforce the laws of the Ministry of the Environment on the prohibition agains citizens laying their waste in the streets.

The second phase of the cleanup project is to build sewers to evacuate Latendrie channels. For this, the houses will be equipped with PVC pipes whose wastewater will be routed directly to the drainage channels.

The mayor, for his part programmed with several other institutions, a series of meetings on "Who does what?... "To determine the role and responsibilities of each institution in waste management, as said the mayor, Salvador Guillet". The mayor of Port-de-Paix, without means, can not do anything to keep the city clean on his own ". The mayor also hoped that a cleaning operation of the same scale take place at the entrance to Port-de-Paix, specifically in the Trois Rivieres area.