As the metropolitan area faces the threat of flooding at the beginning of the cyclone season, the SEEUR is dealing with a lack of equipment to dredge the canals.
"For about two years, the MTPTC has not acquired any equipment. The few pieces of equipment that were purchased before the current government are very poorly managed. They are currently in the hands of former state authorities. For almost a year, we have been in the phase of identifying these materials in order to recover them. This explains the decrease in the SEEUR's intervention capacity," stated Rosemond Pradel on Magik 9, on Tuesday, June 6, 2023.
This is not the first time that the MTPTC minister has complained about former elected officials helping themselves to the ministry's equipment park. "The departmental directorates have equipment, but they have enemies, particularly former senators, deputies, and even mayors who use equipment from the Ministry of Public Works to carry out personal projects. Some have teamed up with the population to build roads without any authorization. They have turned the population against the TPTC, making it difficult for the institution to recover its equipment," he declared during his interview on the Panel Magik show on Thursday, September 1, 2022.
"We have initiated a legal and administrative process. We have started to identify the holders. We have sent letters to the supervisory authorities of the individuals concerned in order to bring these equipments back into the MTPTC's park," he stated.
Nine months after Minister Pradel's statements, the situation of the equipment park of the Ministry of Public Works, Transportation, and Communications (MTPTC) remains catastrophic. The equipment and materials have still not been recovered, and the authorities involved have not yet been identified.