MARIGOT--President of Action, Economique et Citoyene (AEC) Yann Lecam said Thursday a solution to the nuisance problem of drug addicts, dealers and homeless vagrants loitering in the St. James side of the Marina Royale car park appears to have been found following a “very constructive” meeting with Collectivité and Préfecture officials on Wednesday.
Lecam said his delegation of six representatives of restaurants and shops on the marina were surprised to find the Collectivité and State representatives so well prepared for the two-hour meeting following the complaint letter submitted on March 12.
“It seems they had already been working on this issue for 10 days and were ready with answers and solutions,” Lecam told The Daily Herald.
The Collectivité plans to break down the walls around the perimeter of the car park as of May 15, thereby opening the car park to a full view that will prevent any possibility of drug addicts hiding or building any kind of small constructions. Surveillance cameras will be installed or reactivated and more lighting added for the car park and the marina in general.
At the same time, a project to construct a boardwalk and docks for fishermen will also start on the water side of the car park. This was a project that had long been proposed by the St. James district council, but never activated.
Regular patrols by Police Territorial and the Gendarmerie will be implemented in two weeks. On the social dilemma of what to do with drug addicts, representatives of the Red Cross and Agence Regionale de la Santé (ARS) will be visiting them to propose relocation to a rehabilitation facility in Guadeloupe, based on a tripartite convention drawn up between Collectivité, Sécurité Social and the Préfecture.
It is hoped to persuade these disadvantaged persons to take up the offer that could reduce the problem. The Red Cross and the ARS will have some three weeks to work on the issue. After that the Gendarmerie will be implementing a zero-tolerance policy and arrests will be made if there is illegal activity.
The positive outcome of the meeting on Wednesday coincides with the start of repairing the wooden decking on the marina docks on Tuesday. This is expected to last six weeks. The old damaged wood is being ripped up and replaced with marine plywood. This in turn will be covered by a green artificial lawn-type material. Plants will also be placed around the marina to make it more attractive.
Repairing the docks is only a temporary measure. Lecam said there is still an 800,000-euro project in waiting to fully reconstruct the docks so that boats can return to the marina. However, this is not expected to start until the end of this year.
The association has been promised it will receive a complete timetable of repairs and reconstruction of the marina in the next few days, based on the meeting.
