Prevent the reconstruction of slums, restore electricity “in every home” by the end of January: François Bayrou announced a series of measures on Monday during his visit to Mayotte, two weeks after the devastating cyclone Chido.
After a one-day visit at the head of a large ministerial delegation, the Prime Minister presented to the Departmental Council of the archipelago his plan “Mayotte standing” which “has a single guideline: no sentences, decisions concrete and precise, concrete and precise commitments”.
Caught in a controversy over his presence at the Municipal Council of Pau two days after the cyclone and three days after his appointment to Matignon, confronted with the impatience and anger of residents and representatives of the island over the slowness of relief , Mr. Bayrou listed several dozen measures on numerous themes, including education, health, water and electricity supply, and support for the local economy.
At the same time, an “emergency law” will be presented to the Council of Ministers on Friday, with “a presentation to Parliament within two weeks”, announced Mr. Bayrou. A draft “refoundation program law” for the archipelago “prepared and designed with the elected officials of Mayotte, will be finalized within three months, he said.
Among the key provisions detailed on Monday by the head of government, the commitment of the State and local public authorities to “prohibit and prevent the reconstruction of slums”, taking up a mantra of Emmanuel Macron, who came on December 19 and 20 on site.
A desire which could be “enshrined in law”, while around a third of the population of this poorest department in France resides in precarious housing, completely destroyed.
Faced with the emergency of a ravaged archipelago and still partly deprived of essential services, Mr. Bayrou also asked that electricity be “restored to every home at the end of January”, thanks in particular to “a reinforcement of 200 agents” and the arrival of “200 generators, around ten per municipality” to operate “the essential equipment”.
“Before the end of the week, the volume of drinking water production obtained before Chido will be reached,” promised the head of government, referring to an imminent “intervention” by the “army” to help restore the network.
The Prime Minister also announced the launch of a “vigilance plan” in Mayotte bringing together the army and the gendarmerie to “monitor” schools in the face of threats of fire and looting. The mayor of Mamoudzou had just, during a meeting, denounced that on Monday “a school of the Republic” had been “burned down” and had been transformed into an accommodation center for two weeks.
Faced with irregular immigration – the department has 320,000 inhabitants according to INSEE, but perhaps 100,000 to 200,000 more with undocumented immigrants – Mr. Bayrou pleaded for a “general and precise census of the population”.
A “truth operation which will make it possible to overcome the ambiguities and inconsistencies that many elected officials have reported on the numerical assessment of the population”, he argued, while earlier in the day he had judged “ irresponsible” to pretend “that there is not a burning immigration problem in Mayotte”.
-On the economic side, Mr. Bayrou indicated that social contributions would be suspended “for all companies until March 31.” Compensation for loss of turnover, or even loan facilities are also planned.
Objective: two years
“It is not only a question of rebuilding Mayotte as it was. It is a question of designing the future of Mayotte, different”, explained during the day Mr. Bayrou, who repeated his “objective” of rebuilding Mayotte in two years, wanting to “make fate lie”.
Accompanied by five ministers, including Ministers of State Elisabeth Borne (Education) and Manuel Valls (Overseas), François Bayrou notably visited the Petite Terre water desalination plant, a field hospital, a school including several rooms classes were devastated, before increasing the number of meetings with the island’s leaders and elected officials.
Chido, the most devastating cyclone in Mayotte in 90 years, caused the death of 39 people on December 14 and left more than 5,600 injured, according to a report published Sunday by the prefecture.
Concerning the death toll, Mr. Bayrou called on Monday for “very great caution”, affirming that the “rumors of thousands of deaths” were “unfounded” and that the deaths were rather counted in “a few dozen or a few hundreds.
At the end of his visit to Mayotte, Mr. Bayrou will travel to the island of Reunion, an important logistical base for aid to the Mahorais archipelago, where he will continue his visit Tuesday morning before returning to mainland France.
“In the south, in the north, we are the forgotten ones of this territory. They (the highest political leaders) always remain in Mamoudzou”, deplores a resident, Marachi Maoulida, “disappointed” with this first ministerial visit of a day but who wants to remain “optimistic”.
Present in his delegation, his Minister of State in charge of Overseas Territories, Manuel Valls, will stay two additional days in Mayotte.
This article was automatically published. Sources: ats / afp
