“the biggest” destruction of unsanitary habitat “ever carried out on the island” begins

An operation to destroy unsanitary housing presented by the prefecture of Mayotte as “the largest ever carried out on the island” began Monday morning in Koungou, a commune in the north of Grande-Terre, where a shanty town of 465 sheet metal huts will be dismantled.

Around 2000 people live in these huts. Thirty-three families will be relocated, according to a prefectural source. The other families will probably go and build huts elsewhere.

From 5:00 a.m. (3:00 a.m. in Paris), around 140 gendarmes were mobilized to secure the operation before the arrival of the backhoe loaders which began the destruction of the first homes. The operation could last around two weeks given the complexity of the site, on steep terrain, according to the prefecture.

In place of the informal neighborhood, the municipality of Koungou plans to create a “concerted development zone, with 900 housing units but also public facilities, schools and shops”. Planned for a long time, the dismantling operation was notably awaiting the arrival of reinforcements from two squadrons of mobile gendarmes in the territory.

Four out of ten homes are made of sheet metal

In 2021, during the dismantling of a neighboring district, angry residents set fire to Koungou Town Hall. At the time, 350 homes in the neighborhood had been destroyed.

Four out of 10 homes are made of sheet metal on the island of 321,000 inhabitants and 60% of homes lack basic sanitary comfort (running water, toilets or showers), according to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee) .

For several years, slum dismantling operations have been increasing to combat unsanitary housing.