Friday July 3 at a press conference Abner Septembre the Minister of the Environment, accompanied by his Director General Astrel Joseph and that of the Bureau of Mines and Energy (BME) Claude Prepetit announced the reopening of 15 sand quarries on the 24 banned of operations in several regions of the country.

This decision follows a joint technical assessment mission from several quarries https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-31041-haiti-notice-closings-of-the-sand-quarries-at-morne-a-cabris.html which made it possible to adopt drastic and reasonable provisions, said Minister September

Aware of the contribution of entrepreneurs and operators in reducing the unemployment rate in the country, Septembe said he was determined to correct the drifts due to the abusive exploitation of quarries endangering human lives, the ecosystem, public investments important in these areas, in particular electricity pylons, and road infrastructure.

Claude Prépetit explained that these reopenings will be reasoned, ordered and controlled stressing that out of the 24 quarries listed, only fifteen (15) were considered eligible for exploitation, subject to the adoption of certain corrections that will have to be made at the level of development of operating space and access routes. "The other 9 are permanently closed due to their poor location, close to electricity pylons and the national road."

"From now on, any operator at the quarry level must first apply for an operating permit from the BME as well as an environmental no objection certificate issued by the Ministry of the Environment. Entrepreneurs and truckers must also honor their tax fees to the Ministry of Finance and the DGI, in accordance with the finance law," concluded Prépetit.

Astrel Joseph insisted on the environmental aspect and clarified that the operating model recommended at each site is the tiered one, which minimizes the risk of collapses or landslides. In addition, before starting the exploitation of a quarry, it is up to the entrepreneur to first identify a degraded site in a well-defined area to support or directly carry out a reforestation activity. The latter will be supervised by the Ministry of the Environment for three months after obtaining the permit.

HL/ HaitiLibre