President Danny Faure visits Plaisance and Les Mamelles districts |29 July 2017
Gets first-hand view of housing issues, social vices
A day after being told that 800 plots of land are expected to be allocated by 2020 and the government is on target to build 24 housing units in 24 districts in the next 24 months, President Danny Faure went to Plaisance and Les Mamelles to see the housing situations there.
Accompanied by a delegation of community leaders and key government agencies and services, President Faure obtained a first-hand view of the situation in the two districts and assessed the progress of various projects.
At Plaisance, the president and his delegation visited a number of ongoing housing redevelopment projects such as the Belvedere ex-Société du Logement and the police quarters.
He also visited some families facing housing challenges, a childminding service run by Jenita Sabury, local businessmen, and the elderly, who are facing challenges.
The president also met centenarian Andrine Reddy in her home at Belvédère. The 102-year-old lady said “I am very happy President Faure came to see me”.
He also visited locations being affected by social ills including drug trafficking and hot spots where people gather for anti-social activities.
At Les Mamelles, President Faure visited some of the major housing projects such as the Upper Les Mamelles Village, where he viewed the completed first and second phases of Les Mamelles redevelopment project. At Lower Les Mamelles village, the delegation saw some of the low cost housing in need of urgent refurbishment as well as some of the hotspots where drug traffickers are affecting members of the Les Mamelles community.
The visit was also an opportunity for the president to visit the newly renovated Les Mamelles health centre that offers extra services including an antenatal department, dental therapy, a state-of-the-art emergency room, and staff quarters.
President Faure also visited other residential locations with ongoing housing redevelopment projects such as ‘Dan Kan’, existing residential estates with sewage problems, and priority housing cases in the sub-district of Les Mamelles at Basin Bleu.
In both districts, many residents took the chance to meet and talk to the president as he walked through their neighbourhood to share their concerns or make suggestions on ways to improve their community.
Following the site visits in both districts, all representatives from the ministries and agencies met for a debriefing session chaired by President Faure at the respective community centres where he thanked the community leaders for easing the visits.
He urged the district authorities along with all government partner agencies to adopt a more coordinated approach while working for the people in their communities.
Speaking to the press after the visits, principal secretary for Infrastructure Yves Choppy said many of the challenges being faced in the two districts are mostly related to infrastructure and housing.
He said that the government will be reviewing some of the existing upcoming housing project plans to expand some of these projects and increase the number of units so that more people can benefit.
“For the two districts, we have three redevelopment projects ‒ ex-Société du Logement, ex-police quarters and Lower Les Mamelles. The Lower Les Mamelles project is quite a large one. They are old colonial houses which have outlived their lifespan. Under the redevelopment projects, we will be maximising the terrain and increase the number of units to assist more families, improve their living conditions, the circulation situation and also the social facilities that are required,” said Mr Choppy.
Member of the National Assembly (MNA) for Les Mamelles, Bernard Georges said: “We wanted the president to have an overview of Les Mamelles. Not everything in Les Mamelles is bad and not everything is good. So we wanted to show him our successes which include the redevelopment of Upper Les Mamelles, our health centre which is a source of pride. And we also wanted to show him what needs to be done, which is the redevelopment of Lower Les Mamelles which is in a terrible state and the redevelopment of the area at Plaisance called Dan Kan. Once we are able to have the infrastructure in place probable in the next two or three years, we would be in a better position to tackle the social issues”.
His colleague Clive Roucou of Plaisance explained that together with district administrator Claudette Louise they chose the areas for the president to visit.
“There are specific and special problems in these areas which are affecting the image of the district. Judging on the sincerity of the president, I just hope everything will be materialised and Plaisance will move forward,” said MNA Roucou.
Also present for the visit were secretary of state for poverty alleviation Ambassador Dick Esparon, local government principal secretary Celine Vidot, principal secretary for public affairs Doreen Arnephy, principal secretary for social affairs Linda William-Melanie, principal secretary for family affairs Marie-Josée Bonne, Property Management Company chief executive Lenny Lebon, Seychelles Land Transport Agency chief executive Parinda Herath, National Drugs Enforcement Agency officials, representatives of health and police, and district administrators for Plaisance and Les Mamelles.
The accompanying photos show President Faure and his delegation on their tour of the two districts yesterday.
