Under the Mirabeau bridge (15 th) the Seine flows… and next to it, soon, a renovated concrete plant.
In the midst of the river pollution scandal and despite the parade of candidates for mayor of Paris during the municipal campaign to denounce the maintenance of this Lafarge cement plant in the capital, the inhabitants of the 15th arrondissement had to face the facts: there is no question that the factory at the port of Javel will disappear anytime soon.
"So many trucks in less on the roads", pleads Lafarge
During the consultation meeting on the site renovation project, which was held this Tuesday evening at the Town Hall, while the residents and Philippe Goujon, the mayor (LR) of the 15th district, plead for a pure abandonment and simple, this option has clearly been ruled out.
"This plant on the banks of the Seine allows us to bring in tons of aggregates necessary for the manufacture of concrete by water, it is as many trucks less on the roads", maintains the multinational.
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The company refuses to communicate the ratio of Parisian worksites to worksites close to the suburbs supplied by this concrete plant.
“But concrete is a fresh product that only has a lifespan of 1 hour and a half as soon as it is in the mixer trucks.
The sites where we bring our concrete are therefore located within a radius of 2.5 to 3 kilometers around the plant ”, indicates the Lafarge spokesperson.
"The feeling of a step backwards" for residents
The mayor of Paris, she recalled during this meeting that concrete was necessary for many sites in the capital: here a school, there a cycle path.
“At the Paris Council in June 2019, the former deputy in charge of town planning, Jean-Louis Missika, pleaded for the use of more ecological building materials.
There, we have a little the feeling of a step back on the part of the new deputy Emmanuel Grégoire, “regrets Maryse Fourcade, vice-president of the association of residents of the port of Javel.
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"This concrete batching plant will manufacture the concrete of the future, one with a reduced carbon footprint," assures the Lafarge spokesperson.
The number of silos reduced
The company also heard the reservations of residents and elected officials of the 15th district and presented this Tuesday evening a somewhat modified extension project compared to the initial plans.
The daily production capacity will not be 120,000 cubic meters as the company initially planned, but 90,000 cubic meters, compared to 80,000 cubic meters currently.
The number of silos built has also been reduced, from 9 to 7 (compared to 5 currently).
"We are far from the in-depth review of the project that we had been promised", sighs the representative of the residents.
“Lafarge's new proposals are only marginal and only slightly improve the operation of the site”, regrets Philippe Goujon.
A new consultation meeting should take place within a few weeks.