Built between 1932 and 1934 under President Sténio Vincent, the current state of the Pont Vincent is proof that the former deputy of the commune of Léogâne, Mr. Jean Wilson Hyppolite, is also a Civil Engineer in the same way as his friend, ally and good friend Mr. Jovenel Moïse.
Since 2015, Pont Vincent no longer connects the town of Léogâne with the rest of the south of the country. That was the deliberate act and the campaign promise that Mr. Hyppolite made to the people of Leogane. Vote for me; I will give you a new bridge within my first 100 days as your deputy.“
He had the bridge crushed for no apparent reason. He had the two edges of the bridge removed and some holes dug, because the bridge was too small and too low, ” he told the inhabitants of Cassagne for whom the bridge is a spiritual place and a dam against multiple flooding of the Rouyonne river. “ On a decoy occasion, when PHTK was very weak in Léogâne, he led the Caravan of Change with a broken Backhoe loader to search the Rouyonne river canal, ”they continued. Clearly, it was a sham and hodgepodge to steal our votes.”
Each time the community mobilizes to inform the population of the danger posed by this destruction, the team of the former honorable, angrily, takes to social media and local radio stations radios to reassure the population that funds are allocated in the national budget for the repair or reconstruction of the bridge. ” If these funds are allocated, why are they not engaged, let alone committed,” wondered the people of Leogane.
Crossing the bridge is a living danger for drivers and pedestrians in the sense that two cars, or even two motorcycles, are not to pass together or pass each other on the bridge. Rara bands do everything to avoid crossing it, because its collapse is only held by a thin thread. In periods of rains, water flows to destroy the neighborhoods, gardens and surroundings. Needless to say, homeowners leave what is left of their homes to escape the danger of loss of life when the Rouyonne River floods.
“Big or small, high or low, the size and height of the bridge was not a problem for us, because we could cross it without thinking that at any time it would collapse under our feet or under our wheels,” hammered a 80 years old mad fanatic of Ti-Malice Kache claiming that the bridge is older than he is.
The Léogânais, supported by the diaspora of the town, no longer want to see their children die and cars capsize because of the lamentable state of the Vincent Bridge. In this sense, they are launching a movement to rehabilitate Pont Vincent. They initiate approaches with several civil engineering firms in the country to formulate infrastructure assessments to know whether the bridge requires repairs or total reconstruction.
Dr. Bobb RJJF Rousseau –www.cecoyauniversity.com
