The French junior minister in charge of overseas territories, Christian Estrosi, has made a range commitments to improve the French Polynesian
infrastructure.
Bypassing the territorial administration, in line with the autonomy statute, Mr Estrosi signed an agreement with the mayor of Papeete for
Paris to contribute 20 million US dollars towards water treatment plants in Tahiti.
Mr Estrosi has also promised to build another prison as the main Tahiti jail suffers from overcrowding.
He says although crime rates are lower than in mainland France, the territory is faced with an increase in crimes, which he has linked to
wider drug use.
