Port-au-Prince needs 'rethink': Montreal mayor

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay says Haiti needs to “rethink” its capital city in the wake of January’s devastating earthquake.

Tremblay arrived here Monday for a two-day trip along with Governor General Michaelle Jean.

With its large population of Haitian immigrants, Montreal has an intimate connection with the impoverished Caribbean country and in particular its capital, Port-au-Prince.

Montreal is donating $1 million in human and material resources to the reconstruction effort in Haiti. The city also has dispatched 17 missions to Port-au-Prince in the last two years, including several to advise Haitian officials on governance.

Tremblay said Montreal officials were also providing advice on urban planning and infrastructure, among other things.

"Unfortunately, the disaster that happened is just delaying what we want to do together," said the mayor. "So now I think the clear message is that we have to rethink Port-au-Prince and look at whether it's possible to host 2,200,000 people in this city."

The devastation from the Jan. 12 earthquake, which killed roughly 200,000 people, has drawn attention to the poor urban planning in Port-au-Prince, where growth has run unchecked for years. Experts say the lack of building codes was one of the reasons so many structures collapsed.

At a joint news conference Monday with the Governor General, Haitian President Rene Preval once again called for the country to be reorganized in a "decentralized" manner, with more emphasis on economic development in other towns and rural areas.

"We have neglected the country, we've neglected agriculture," said Preval.

Tremblay said the training and expertise offered by Montreal has become even more important since the disaster.

"There's a lot of human capital here, but given the situation, it takes much more to take on the challenge that they're facing presently," the mayor said.

While in Port-au-Prince, Tremblay was joined at the hip by the mayor of the Haitian capital, Jean-Yves Jason.

The Montreal mayor accompanied Jean to all her events on Monday, which included a meeting with the mayor of Leogane, a town to the west of Port-au-Prince where Canadian troops have been taking part in relief efforts.

On Tuesday, Tremblay and Jean will meet the mayor of Jacmel, the seaside town where Jean's mother was born.