It was a promise made to the inhabitants of Roya in the Alpes-Maritimes, to return to the valley after the deadly storm Alex. A place still very marked by the disaster. 15 months after the tragedy, it will therefore be done. Emmanuel Macron is announced there.
Emmanuel Macron will travel to Nice and the Roya valley on Monday January 10.
The last presidential visit to Roya dates from October 8, 2020, a week after the floods that left ten dead and eight missing in several valleys near Nice and Menton.
The presence of the Head of State is eagerly awaited by a still bruised population while titanic projects are still underway to rebuild the valley and in particular the accesses.
One billion euros has been invested in reconstruction, the overall public aid envelope has reached 572 million euros.
Among those who will be present on Monday during the visit of the Head of State, Sébastien Olharan, the mayor of Breil-sur-Roya.
The main thing is that he comes
Sebastien olharanMayor of Breil-sur-Roya
The mayor refers to the fact that his visit was expected on the anniversary of the disaster.
“It is important explains the chosen one beyond the symbol so that we evoke the valley in the long term and for the external image, that we say to ourselves why not go sightseeing there this summer.. “
He adds : “it contributes to the fact that we get up, he explains with conviction. From a political point of view he adds: “What I see is that the State’s financial commitments are being kept. “
“We had relevant work with Xavier Pelletier”, the prefect delegated to the reconstruction of the valleys, “in Breil we have nothing to complain about. “
Obviously the future of certain houses remains problematic, sometimes permanently uninhabitable that may have to be destroyed, it is on a case by case basis, “you can’t wipe out an entire neighborhood with a stroke of the pen. “
“For the roads”, adds the mayor of Breil-sur-Roya, “the department did a remarkable job “.
Of course there are still points on which everyone must work: the rail line with Italy, trying to speed up work on the Tende tunnel.
The mayor who asks for a little more flexibility: “Sometimes it takes us a long time to get administrative authorizations, for example you can’t imagine the time I spent to put the Breil water jet back in place!”
And the morale of the inhabitants? All this momentum, voluntary associations also played a positive role. And those little things that matter.
“The town hall” explains Sébastien Olharan “is welcoming again, no need to go up a floor, the ground floor has been renovated. And the old bar has been reborn in the form of a chalet. “
An optimism that we also find on the side of Tende. For its mayor, Jean-Pierre Vassallo. “We had gone down to hell in the hours following the storm, the France machine set off again. When I see the Head of State explains the mayor I will tell him my gratitude, all the institutions have followed, the department, the community of agglomeration of the French Riviera etc.. “
And then confides Jean-Pierre Vassallo, “no one would have bet that we would be in this situation today, the train and the roads partly restored, technical feats have been made. But we are still in pain, 60 families have still not been able to reach their homes and the scars are still there. ”
Many structures and roads remain to be rebuilt. In the Roya Valley, the hamlet of Casterino is still largely cut off from the world due to a road that will not be restored before the fall of 2022, endangering the survival of several hotel establishments.
Emmanuel Macron will go to Nice on Monday first to talk about police and security. In Nice, he will meet the police and lay the first stone of the future “police hotel” which will bring together several security forces (national and municipal police, border police, judicial police …) in a police station with of advanced technologies, where 2,000 agents will eventually work, a first in France.