The Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire, visiting Pointe-à-Pitre on Thursday, gave "his full support" to the project to extend the large seaport of Guadeloupe, and took the opportunity to express his rejection of " the path of decline".
"I have come to give full support to this port expansion project," Bruno Le Maire, who was making his first visit to Guadeloupe as minister, told the press.
"It's a tremendous economic opportunity for Guadeloupe which can become a major hub to serve the rest of the Caribbean and South America," he insisted.
"It is also an environmental opportunity to be seized", assured Bruno Le Maire, castigating the protection of the environment through degrowth.
"There is for Guadeloupe and more broadly for France a political choice which is fundamental: some say that the best way to fight against global warming is to decrease. I absolutely do not believe in it", a- he launched in his speech.
“Degrowth means being less well cared for, it means moving less, it means less good transport quality and it means less prosperity for our children. decline," said the minister.
"We want to double the capacity of the Port to become the fifth French port", indicated to AFP on the spot the president of the Supervisory Board of the Grand Port Maritime, Marie-Luce Penchard.
The objective is to accommodate container ships 300 meters long, in particular those of the CMA-CGM which is one of the investors in the project, but also to become a transhipment port in the region.
The total investment amounts to "170 to 180 million euros", according to Bruno Le Maire, who assured the local authorities of his desire to defend the operation "at European and obviously governmental level".
"Our public finances require us to take responsibility for every euro we spend or invest," he added, while welcoming the "structuring" aspect of this port project.
According to the public inquiry report, dated April 2023, the project received a favorable opinion, thanks to the "avoidance, reduction, compensation and monitoring measures presented by the Grand Port, (...) denoting a real desire to remedy the environmental nuisances caused by the project".
Nuisances caused by "work (...) which significantly impact the various components of the environment, both natural and human environments", according to the report, which also mentions "the harmful nature of the installations in the phase of exploitation, particularly for marine mammals".
26/05/2023 13:49:45 - Pointe-à-Pitre (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
