Port Louis: When Heritage Crashes for Peddlers’ Benefit

Demolition is, well sure, not complete. But a good part of this site known to have shelter, to the French era, the offices of the artillery is reduced to dust. The mayor of Port-Louis found just change the location to accommodate street vendors. These will be relocated before the end of the year.

Also known as the offices of military engineering or old Decean Barracks, the site has, so far, two historic buildings. One that also housed a school and the other served as the local Central Water Authority. Besides the old stones were painted in blue and yellow color of the water manager.

These stones dating from 1789 can tell us a lot about the history of Mauritius. At first glance, if one takes the side of the seat to access the Labour Party in the Square Guy Rozemont, one might get the impression that the story took no ride. But inside, it is blow that destroyed.Silence ...

Councillor Salim Mamode Abass who happened on the scene during the report confirms that the priority for mayor was to relocate the hawkers quickly. "We wanted to give them a decent place where they could operate legally. And as you can see, the walls were not affected. Operators will be in court, " he says.

However, the said court was paved and the old building that was partially demolished. This is an aberration for the historian Marie-France Chelin-Goblet. "Once a stone is removed from a historic building, it's over," she quips. 

For the historian, c ' The government is to blame. "It should have been a cell that takes care of Heritage in the Department of Arts and Culture. In each case, it is the same thing, we demolished and it was not until we think of history. These are, unique buildings. What will we tell our children? " questions before she added that this cell should identify all buildings and heritage monuments, they are protected by law or not.

You should know that preservationists are not against the idea that historical sites are reused. Instead, they even think that this is a better way to preserve them. To upgrade.

Thierry Lebreton of SOS Heritage in Danger says it is important to rehabilitate historic buildings and give them a second life. "These buildings have value in downtown Port-Louis as they are precisely what that make the city unique. Having this space for merchants but can simply destroy the beauty of the place and put concrete and tar everything is is a mistake in the sense that we transform a site that has a great potential for devaluing a ghetto dignity of Mauritius , "he says.

The other idea of preservationists would enjoy these stories places to attract tourists and encourage them to know the history of Mauritius.

But for now, many items of yesteryear have been removed from the offices of military engineering. This is also in the same place that was fitted naval school, before independence.

Fokeer Kamil, a man of 66 years, still remembers the machine used to unload the goods. "Today there is only support. What you see that looks like a white pole. They also demolished the building in which I learned to maneuver boats. Later, he had old trains were stored.There is nothing left. Everything has been removed and no one knows where are these things " , he let escape with nostalgia. 

Another proof, if any were needed, that the failure of policy makers, it is street vendors, often results in disaster during year end.