Haiti reconstruction

Haiti – Reconstruction : IHRC and Bilateral Commission without Preval

The fourth meeting of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), originally scheduled on Tuesday in Port-au-Prince, had to be moved because of post-election violence. This meeting will be held Tuesday in Santo Domingo at the Hilton Hotel from 2pm.

The President of Haiti René Préval will be the big absentee, he has canceled his visit in Dominican Republic, during which he had to have with President Leonel Fernandez, some interviews during the Joint Bilateral Commission. He has canceled his visit in Dominican Republic, during which he was to have with President Leonel Fernández, discussions in the course of the Bilateral Joint Commission.

Edwin Parison, the Minister of the Haitian diaspora, said that the cancellation of the visit of President Preval is due to post-election crisis. The head of state is involved in numerous meetings and contacts with local and international officials seeking a solution to the political crisis in Haiti since the publication of the preliminary results disputed of the elections made on November 28th, 2010.

The IHRC will be co-chaired by former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Jean Max Bellerive, to discuss, in the presence of delegations from 26 member countries, representatives of the Organization of American States (OAS) and representatives of Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), of the new projects submitted for approval by the authorities of Haiti.

This meeting will be followed by « commitments » of international donors. The IHRC continues to be the subject of much criticism for its inaction, its deficit of result and its strategical direction decided outside of the organized sectors of Haitian society.

While less than 10% of funds pledged by international has been disbursed, Temístocles Montás, the Dominican Minister of Economy, Planning and Development, shows a cautious optimism, fearing that this is still the same. Many projects will be submitted and approved, while the financing of projets already approved previously, is still not completed or is nonexistent…

In this regard, he reiterated firmly on the international community to keep its promises, and to release as quickly as possible, financial resources for the reconstruction of Haiti.

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Haiti – Reconstruction : 777 million for 18 new projects

The Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), co-chaired by Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and President Bill Clinton, today reaffirmed its goals and priorities for Haitian reconstruction and announced a new set of projects at its third Board meeting, held via conference call from Port-au-Prince.

The Council of the IHRC approved this Wednesday, October 6, 18 new projects totaling $777 million, [although some projects may be modified based on feedback of the board] This brings to 49 the number total projects approved to date. [All are not funded or partially funded]. The Council of the IHRC has also reported progress on several projects approved at its last meeting on 17 August.

« I am quite confident regarding the steadfast support and commitment of the international community to the reconstruction of Haiti » said Jean-Max Bellerive, Prime Minister of Haiti and co-president of the IHRC. « Today’s Board meeting has confirmed the invaluable collaboration among all actors involved in the process, and I am proud of the contributions of our Haitian counterparts to our work »

For his part, former President Bill Clinton said « Today, our Commission has approved 18 projects valued at 777 million dollars that, among other outcomes, will provide school subsidies for 250,000 children, cash grants for the construction of 5,000 homes, and medical, psychological and legal services for up to 50,000 women and girls. Once fully-funded and implemented, the projects approved today are expected to improve the lives of more than one million people in Haiti as they recover from the devastating earthquake »

« New Projects » approved by the Council of the IHRC at today’s meeting

– $474 million Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) project for reconstruction of the country’s education sector. The project will enable 250,000 children to benefit from financial subsidies to attend school every year for the next four years.

[NdHL – This project was announced August 17 (excluding HRIC). The IDB has already paid an initial $50 million of this amount. This project will be funded partly by the resources of the IDB and the other half from other donors]

– A $100 million IDB project which will support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by providing business development services and investment credits.

[NdHL – This project was included in the list of projects from 17 August (lower amount) – under the title « Finance and Investment » – and seems to have revised upwards. Charles Castel, Governor of the Central Bank, Jean-Max Bellerive, the Prime Minister and Ronald Baudin the finance minister said earlier this month « We hope that the partial credit guarantee and industrial development fund, could initially provide $140 million in loans, and possibly more later ». Today, a simultaneous announcement of the IDB is a fund of $20 million businesses]