By Claudine Housen, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
PLANS TO move the more than 100 Haitian refugees from Portland in the east, to Mont-pelier, St. James, in the west, were postponed yesterday because of concerns raised by the Ministry of Health over sanitary facilities.
Dean Peart, Minister of Land and the Environment, who is in charge of the project, said the problem was minor and was being dealt with speedily.
"The problem we are having is that the male bathrooms and the manhole covers were not completed," he told The Gleaner. He said he had been assured by workers that "those things would be finished" by yesterday."
Apart from the incomplete bathroom facilities and manhole covers, Mr. Peart said that everything was in place for the arrival of the Haitians. He has called a meeting with representatives of various organisations to review the work that has been done.
"I have called a meeting with the ODPEM (Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management), the ministries of Health, Foreign Affairs, and National Security, and Joe Shako, my technical person, to just review everything and then make the necessary arrangements...," Mr. Peart said.
Among the facilities already completed are two barracks provided by the Food For the Poor charity, and a female dormitory.
More than 170 Haitians who fled the civil unrest in their country which led to the downfall and exile of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, are being housed in temporary shelters in Portland. The Government is spending more than $36 million to accommodate them for several months before they are returned to Haiti.
