Saturday, the Technical Secretariat of the Interministerial Committee for Territorial Planning (CIAT), the Community of Municipalities of the Region of Palmes and the "Ateliers internationaux de Maitrise d’œuvre Urbaine" of Cergy-Pontoise presented the synthesis of an international two-weeks workshop on territorial issues of the Palmes Region (South East) held in the cities of Gressier, Léogâne, Grand-Goâve and Petit-Goâve and that brought together Haitian and foreign specialists from all over who were able to identify the different aspects of territorial project of Palmes.

The approach of intercommunality was adopted to meet all the challenges that loom over the region both in terms of internal migration, informal urbanization, pressure on farmland and in terms of environmental degradation . The future of this region called of Palmes is however inseparable from that of Port-au-Prince, whose the development deeply affects the spatial organization of the territory and its economy, still predominantly rural.

Michèle Oriol, Executive Secretary of CIAT situates this workshop within a framework of essential openness to regional planning "Make a two-weeks immersion for Haitian youth and youth from around the world (Mexico, South Africa, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Spain, Denmark, France) is an exercise of great value: we must confront our knowledge of Haitian territory with territorial logic elsewhere, where the territory is more appropriate for people and institutions. Change the look of the Haitian landscape, open avenues to imagine another Haiti"

For his part, Ambassador of France in Haiti, Elisabeth Beton Delègue, expressed appreciation for "this innovative methodological approach driven by French planners [...] About twenty young professionals have focused in recent days on the future of the Palmes area, which is exemplary in many respects. The results of this workshop should be the basis for a Haitian dialogue. Some ideas will be taken; others to leave. But this approach, which is in the logic of support of France to the development of Haiti will have allowed to consider the Haitian territorial issue from another angle."

Nicole Fisher, head of the infrastructure section at the Delegation of the European Union (EU) declared "For the European Union, which leads, with its partners, an ambitious urban development program, which involves several areas of Port-au-Prince but also Petit-Goâve is expected to invest 100 million euros in this sector by 2020, the question of territorial management is central [...] look forward to the sum of contributions produced by this workshop on the Palmes region that will help ultimately all actors to give a new dynamism to the land management in the region."

Finally, Pierre André Périssol, former Minister of France, current president of Workshops of the agglomeration of Cergy-Pontoise recalled "the objective of this workshop was to look differently on the territorial issue in the region of Palmes, not only technical but especially multidisciplinary, with geographers, architects, landscape etc... Thanks to this teamwork, Haitian-makers will now have at their disposal a suggestion box in which they can help to choose their future territorial development programs, that these programs concern the Palmes or other parts of the country."

See also :

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-16856-icihaiti-politic-international-workshop-on-the-territorial-issue-of-the-region-of-palmes.html

HL/ HaitiLibre