Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Building on a Devastated Mountain

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

CARACAS, Sep 26 2005 (IPS) - Venezuela is considering the construction of 30,000 housing units on 3,500 hectares in the north of Avila, the mountain that separates Caracas from the Caribbean Sea, and where flooding and mudslides left thousands dead in 1999, says Environment minister Jacqueline Faría. Faría acknowledged that construction on the mountainside involves risks and creates problems for supplying water and other services, which is why the study was entrusted to a committee led by Antonio Rivero, head of the governmental office for disasters and civil protection.

Marco Negrón, director of a group of architects, told Tierramérica that “it involves an improvised project, which in an absurd way neglects investment in areas where the population already is, to take it where it isn't, and ignores the fact that along with the housing they will need schools, sewage services, retail areas and water supplies.”