Yesterday Wednesday was presented at the Hotel Karibe the plans of a future Port-au-Prince, ordered by the mayor of the capital, result of the work of 40 Haitian experts, engineers, architects, planners of the Centre Haïtien de Recherche en Aménagement et en Développement (CHRAD), for 14 months.
They proposed a "futuristic" Port-au-Prince, a modern city fully renovated, with its trams and a completely redeveloped waterfront, in a tourist and leisure arean it is also provided a ministerial quarter on the Street Champs de Mars, a financial district and a village of artisans, for the "modest" amount of $3.3 billion, the onstruction is planned over a period of 5 years.
Muscadin Jean Yves Jason, the Mayor of Port-au-Prince, present at the presentation said, "This dream of a new Port-au-Prince is possible !", the Mayor has also called for a sustainable city, a city that will grow without choking, a healthy living environment and a pleasant living environment for all, stating that "the plan we have presented is a version that may be the final, but we will complete it with the reflection that will be made, and this plan will be sanctioned by a communal decree which says that it is the new plan of Port-au-Prince". Mr. Jason stated that the money for the 13 ministries is already available.
"I think that it is an opportunity for us to finally have a modern citywhich is adapted to the requirements that there is now" says Paul Antoine Bien-Aimé Minister of the Interior and Territorial Collectivity (MITC) adding that the work that was presented was "inspiring" and that it will "encourage people to seek how we can achieve something like this." Mr. Bian-Aimé believes however that "the reconstruction of Port-au-Prince is primarily a responsibility of the Executive" adding that "in all major Capital Cities it's always a cooperation between the central government and the town hall that allows to modernize a capital."
Mr. Fritz Jean-Louis, who represented the President said that "the Presidency will play flawless the role of intermediary with the Government to come to ensure that all measures be taken to make this project a reality and in order that this new downtown can be inaugurated under the administration Martelly."
Recall that the idea of trams in Port-au-Prince is not new, on January 17, 1878 the first tram line was inaugurated, it connected the Croix des Bossales to the Champ de Mars. At the time the service was a success, but the construction of tracks were badly made, derailments were frequent, maintenance of vehicles did not exist...
