Anarchic construction on the Trou-Couleuvre salt mine presents “a real danger which could have unfortunate consequences for the future of salt production in Gonaïves”, warns an owner of four salt basins
Anarchic construction on the Trou-Couleuvre salt mine threatens the future of one of the two largest pockets of salt production in Gonaïves. This is what residents and entrepreneurs in the area tell AyiboPost.
Anarchic constructions were observed around a pond in Trou-Couleuvre in February 2024. | © Wilnot Casimir/AyiboPost
Gonaïves is included in the list of salt-producing localities in Haiti. The high salinity of the sea water makes the region one of the best places for sea salt production.
These anarchic constructions, although they can relieve small budgets, dissatisfy the owners of the salt basins.
Around a pond in Trou-Couyleuvre, we find anarchic constructions in February 2024
Widelande Dort, a woman in her late thirties, has resided on the Trou-Couleuvre mine site since September 2019. Mother of four children, she left Bigot, an area located at the entrance to the town, to settle in this space on the advice of a gossip who praised the affordable price of land.
Although she was able to establish herself inexpensively in the area, the saltpeter, which climbed along the walls of her dilapidated sheet-metal hovel, gradually damaged the construction, to the point that she was forced to carry out several repairs. tight intervals.
“I am in an economic impasse, because the maintenance of the house eats into my meager income from time to time,” laments the widowed mother.
View of a “house” whose walls are gradually deteriorating.
The locality of Trou-couleuvre is located on the outskirts of the city of Gonaïves and represents, with that of Raboteau, one of the two largest non-iodized salt production basins in the commune.
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The locality has more than fifty salt basins around which commercial relations are established between the owners and small daily salt sellers on the local market.
Defrance lives there. For him, the high cost of renting a suitable house in the heart of the city, which can vary from 25,000 to 75,000 gourdes depending on the location, motivated his decision to live on the salt mine site. with her three children.
“It’s our last resort,” says the man who sells lottery tickets to ensure his children’s livelihood.
At Trou-Couleuvre, on the edge of the salt basins, the houses stand out against a backdrop of poverty, decrepit and ravaged by saltpeter.
On both sides, these huts made of cardboard and corrugated iron covered with rust, exhibit their anachronism, while those built from disemboweled blocks do not give the impression that they would withstand the first tremors of a cyclone or a gust of wind.
Children play not far from the anarchic constructions in Trou-Couleuvre.
Legitimate Julien has lived in the area for seven years. Father of seven children, the man admits that he has deficits in terms of repairs compared to the state of his home.
“The salt takes around four to six months, at most a year, to start eating away at buildings,” he relates.
This shanty town-like belt which tightens around the salt mine worries the owners of salt basins.
Antoine Cénoble, 57, is stepping up to the plate.
“It is a real danger which could have unfortunate consequences for the future of salt production in Gonaïves,” reasons the man who owns four salt basins.
These constructions can not only waste salt production. But they are also real dangers, because “the effect of saltpeter weakens them and they are not guaranteed in the long term,” laments the worried man.
View of the effect of saltpeter on the blocks constituting the walls.
Salt basins are generally excavations of several feet in salt marshes, lined with embankments. Inside these basins, water is added as well as tree leaves called samphire to encourage the crystallization of the salt.
Individual salt consumption in Haiti, estimated at around 35 grams per day in 2012, is far from the WHO recommendation of 4 grams per day. In other words, salt consumption in Haiti is approximately 8.75 times higher than the WHO recommendation, raising major public health concerns.
Read also: Coarse salt grown in Haiti contains excess magnesium. This makes its iodization difficult.
Areas like Grande Saline, Gonaïves, Aquin, Fort-Liberté and Anse-Rouge are important production pockets.
For Pastor Gordon Chéry, 67, owner of three salt ponds, the anarchic constructions in Trou-Couleuvre began in 2015 and increased in the last five years.
Despite protests from owners of salt ponds, some people even go so far as to build their houses almost at the bottom of the basins.
These spaces, along the sea, are not spared from natural hazards.
“The damage is considerable in the area when the Quinte, during periods of flooding, descends and vigorously beats the space of the Saline,” relates Chéry.
40 km long with a basin of 700 km2, this river causes considerable damage during flood periods. An example dates back to 2004 during Hurricane Jeanne which caused the death of more than 3,000 people in the fourth city in the country.
The degrading state of the coastline at Trou-Couleuvre.
Rain of bullets, drawing of knives and machetes… conflicts between salt marsh owners and newcomers sometimes get out of hand, according to pastor Gordon Chéry.
These constructions may also be illegal.
The National Building Code of Haiti (CNBH), in its January 2013 edition, in its section 1.2, requires obtaining a permit from the municipality for the erection of a construction, as well as information indicating that the land is not located in a risk or protected area, among others.
However, in Trou-Couleuvre, it seems that people ignore these formalities.
Read also: Pictures | Haitians push back the sea at Carrefour for “fè tè”. A dangerous practice.
The owner of the ponds, Antoine Cénoble, confides to AyiboPost that in the locality, the granting of portions of land is done in total disorder, under the absent gaze of the city authorities.
“People unduly appropriate land, and sometimes it is individuals without any title who sell it on the sly for derisory sums,” he laments.
Cénoble still remembers this episode from March 2023, where he chased away a man who was planting stakes on land he had bought to make a salt pond, preventing him from selling it without his knowledge.
View of the effect of saltpeter on the blocks constituting the walls.
Donald Diogenes, the interim mayor of the city, acknowledged to AyiboPost on February 22, 2023 the anarchic and illegal nature of these constructions in the salt marshes area.
While maintaining that efforts are being made to respond to this problem with the help of civil protection, the mayor reveals the impotence of the municipality.
“We do not have the necessary room for maneuver to undertake major actions, because the town hall is cruelly suffering from a lack of financial resources. We can’t even pay our salary arrears,” he regrets.
But above all, many people in the city suffer from a housing problem.
Par Vilnius Casimir & Junior Legrand
Cover image: a woman working in a salt mine. | © Franck Chaput
Watch this explanatory video from AyiboPost on the effects of consuming iodine-deficient salt:
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