Overview:
A community-led initiative goals to rehabilitate and make the perilous Kenscoff-Marigot highway in southeast Port-au-Prince drivable. Making the cliffhanger highway extra accessible to vehicles offers many individuals with a vital different for reaching Haiti’s Nice South, together with main cities within the Southeast, South, and Grande-Anse departments. If this venture is profitable, it might enhance mobility whereas lowering the dangers related to gang-controlled areas and routes.
PORT-AU-PRINCE — The Kenscoff-Marigot highway, as soon as a difficult filth monitor by way of Haiti’s rugged mountains, is changing into a lifeline for residents in search of safer journey to the Nice South. As insecurity grips Nationwide Route 2, a gang-controlled freeway, this rehabilitated highway gives a vital different for Haitians like Rooben Claude Pierre, who now not has to threat his life touring by boat or paying gangs for protected passage
“It’s an actual alternative for me to see my household,” Pierre instructed The Haitian Occasions. “I’m bored with risking my life crossing the ocean in a makeshift picket boat to get residence as a result of gangs management Nationwide Highway No. 2.”
The highway linking Kenscoff to Marigot within the Southeast Division is now frequented by dozens of personal automobiles each day, though it’s a perilous filth monitor by way of the mountains, valleys, and cliffs. The insecurity in Haiti, significantly in Port-au-Prince, forces many Haitians to contemplate any different that connects the capital to the nation’s different departments. Once they aren’t risking their lives on practically nonexistent roads, they have to pay gangs for passage or go for boat journey, which is typically attacked by gang members as effectively.
Osny Dumé, a younger man from Cavallion within the South who left Port-au-Prince in June 2023, stated he wouldn’t return till the authorities resolve the gang downside. He identified that the Kenscoff-Marigot route stays too costly and harmful for him.
“I choose to keep away from Port-au-Prince for now,” he instructed The Haitian Occasions. “I don’t wish to compromise my security on that troublesome and dangerous highway. Furthermore, boat journey within the area is unsafe, as gangs usually assault passengers on boats, heightening the specter of shedding our lives at sea.”
From Kenscoff to Marigot, it’s about 8 miles, protecting a number of communal sections, together with Ti Miska and Tèt Kajak, probably the most populous areas. As soon as residents attain Marigot, their journey to the remainder of the Nice South turns into simpler.
In keeping with one Marigot official, the work that started in August is progressing effectively and is on monitor to be accomplished promptly, highlighting the venture’s significance for the residents’ dependable mobility. Nevertheless, he was unable to supply an specific timeline or particulars relating to the price and supply of funding for the venture.
“There is no such thing as a deliberate finances,” a tractor operator stated, requesting anonymity for not being approved to talk to reporters. “The venture executors have been gathering contributions from locals and highway passersby to finance the highway building, one step at a time.”
“It is a group venture,” Adrien Alté, a member of the Kenscoff Communal Part Administration Council (CASEC), stated. “These works are based mostly on solidarity among the many involved communities and serve for instance of the endurance of the native communities towards a safer future,” he added.
“It is a important highway for everybody, not only for Kenscoff. It should make it simpler for everybody to entry the Nice South. At present, it takes between 45 minutes to an hour by automobile. It’s changing into a vital hyperlink between the West Division and the Southeast.”
Déus Déronneth, Former Deputy of Marigot
Déroneth agreed with Alté, saying the highway building venture is a collective effort involving the group residents as key gamers. “The Ministry of Public Works, Transport, and Communications (MTPTC) solely offers the required supplies,” the previous Haitian parliamentarian stated.
“This highway is important for your complete nation. Kenscoff, a mountainous commune within the West Division, is without doubt one of the least affected by sociopolitical instability and gang-led insecurity. Resulting from its rugged terrain—over 2,000 meters above sea stage—this space is much less susceptible to gang assaults that try and arrange toll stations on roads resulting in Port-au-Prince.”
“It is a important highway for everybody, not only for Kenscoff. It should make it simpler for all to entry the Nice South. At present, it takes between 45 minutes to an hour by automobile, regardless of being perilous.”
The inhabitants of the Nice South are eagerly awaiting the completion of the venture, which might mark a turning level of their each day lives by facilitating faster entry to safer areas and lowering their dependence on harmful roads.
For one, Nicole Mathieu from Les Cayes expressed her view on the present state of Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital and its surrounding areas. “I nonetheless don’t see what would make me dwell in Port-au-Prince. Even Miragoâne is out of attain due to the situation of the roads and gang points,” Mathieu stated.
Following are extra pictures taken by Arnold Junior Pierre, The Haitian Occasions contributor in Haiti:
