Three months after launching the works to protect the banks of the Tiburon River, Patrix Sévère, the Minister of Agriculture accompanied by Marcelin Aubourg, Departmental Director of Agriculture for the South, and Marc Édouard, Director of agricultural infrastructure at the Ministry of Agriculture, visited the river site, which consists of mitigating the city's flood risks.

"The work is progressing at a fast pace and this is what protected the city during the passage of the storm Laura last month", arrangements have been made to quickly complete with the containment and consolidation of the 2.8 km linear banks before proceeding with the gabionage and define a joint project with the Ministry of the Environment to reforest the watershed.

As part of the first phase, which started last June, 2.7 km of the banks of the left bank have already been treated as a priority to protect the population of the area, but the work concerns both banks because it is also necessary to protect the agricultural activities which are practiced in particular on the right bank of the river, explained Minister Sévère.

He reminds that the work of damming, reprofiling and gabioning of the Tiburon River, while taking into account the treatment of the ravine and the reforestation of its watersheds, are the necessary conditions to mitigate the risks in this town and the surrounding areas, often affected by flooding.

During his visit he took the opportunity to discuss with the local authorities. He also met with representatives of several associations of agricultural producers and irrigators in the South department to inquire about the difficulties facing farmers, particularly for the winter campaign which is due to start next month.

The Director of Agricultural Infrastructure speaks of a progress of around 30%. For his part, Minister Sévère stressed that such work will be carried out in several other rivers of the South Coast, among others, the Coteaux, Port-à-Piment and Roche-à-Bateau rivers which represent a permanent danger for this region.

HL/ HaitiLibre