MARIGOT--President of Sandy Ground on the Move Insertion Georges Richardson said Monday sustained sand dredging in Marigot Bay in the 1990s for the Marigot waterfront and marina left Sandy Ground, already a poor district, vulnerable to erosion of the coastline.
He said the State should be pursuing those responsible while reparation for that injustice is also due. The erosion is most noticeable closer to the bridge.
“Economic prosperity benefitted from that dredging elsewhere but for Sandy Ground it altered how the sea and currents behave, creating erosion and giving the impression today that properties were built to too close to the water,” he stated. “They were not. And because of that it made the population poorer today. Regardless of how the natural risk prevention plan PPRN intends to protect the population it won’t help those people living on the shoreline.
“The people don’t have the financial resources to abide by the new regulations,” he added. “The PPRN must be delivered with funding to help poor people follow those regulations otherwise it’s not for us. Since the time Louis-Constant Fleming was in power there was an effort to get people title to their land but that seems to be in limbo also.”
Richardson said politicians from the Commune era must also be held accountable for the deterioration of the shoreline in Sandy Ground.
“Now that there is extra time given to revise the PPRN, Sandy Ground must be studied in terms of nature, the climate and the environment to construct a PPRN around that.
“I’m also having a problem with the usefulness of SEMSAMAR which is 51 per cent majority-owned by the Collectivité. What’s the point of even having a one per cent share if the construction company’s profits are not going back to help the people? Something is wrong.”
He repeated there is still no news about an affordable, low cost insurance scheme accessible for all inhabitants of Sandy Ground, something that he proposed.
“These are the sort of benefits that should come with the PPRN and go along with the help from the State. God knows what is going to happen if and when we get another hurricane stronger than Irma and we are not better prepared.”
Richardson criticized the invitation to the Territorial Youth Council Vice-President to participate in the Technical Operation Committee (TOC) meeting convened to work on a letter to Overseas Minister Annick Girardin responding to her announcements on Youth Radio on December 17, and to the written confirmation she sent to Gibbs on Wednesday.
“District Councils were also invited apparently but I remind you that Sandy Ground still does not have a district representative since Cédrick André resigned at the Sandy Ground Fête in August,” Richardson pointed out. “Strange that nothing has been done to put the Council back in place. What are they (Collectivité) afraid of? Not even an association from Sandy Ground was invited to give meaningful input on a subject so important.”
