ARTICLE - IDB - PLAN FOR 2,000 HOMES

IDB REP IN HAITI ANNOUNCES PLAN FOR 2,000 HOMES AND 250,000 JOBS
(Defend Haiti) - By Dieudonné Joachim

PORT-AU-PRINCE - A $30 million project from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will soon launch the construction of two thousand homes in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince and in the North of the country.

The announcement was made by the IDB representative in Haiti, Edouardo Almeida. 600 homes will be built in the (Zoranje) Orangers, not far from Cité Soleil, in a first phase of the project, in partnership with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, through the Economic and Social Assistance Fund (FAES) as the executing agency. 400 others will be built in a second phase.

In the North, the site of the project is not yet identified; but steps undertaken so far by the authorities show that the vicinity of the next Industrial Park could be retained to build a thousand homes.

The choice of Caracol (northeastern) would be justified by the fact that the industrial park which will be close by would create strong applications in the area of habitat. "The North corresponds perfectly to the creation of poles of development strategy in the country and has the possibility to develop in this Department the three growth sectors: industry, agriculture and tourism", stated the representative of the IDB in Haiti, position us for nearly three years.

Edouardo Almeida, of Brazilian nationality, expressed his dream to see no less than a quarter-million jobs in Haiti, a country which is said to have huge production capacities. For him, the project of the industrial park between the North and Northeast returned in order of creation, in five years, 130,000 jobs, or 40 000 in the park with the textile industries, 40 000 around the park with services related to the operation of the Park, 40 000 indirect in agriculture and 10 000 jobs in the field of tourism.

The representative of the IDB reaffirms the commitment of the multilateral institution for the next ten years. The regional development Bank will invest $200 million in six priority sectors, but does not specify how these funds will be ventilated. However, the areas of intervention are: agriculture, the Haitian private sector development, education, transport, energy and drinking water.

"The IDB has already disbursed $180 million [USD] in 2010 and 127 million in 2009", recalled Mr. Almeida, for which the projects in the North of the country are part of a plan of development of pole and participates in the devolution of Port-au-Prince, $1 billion is the total sum of investments in the construction of the industrial park.

Housing will be the main theme of the next Wednesday of the IDB, which will take place during the third or fourth week of the current month. The World Bank will provide leadership for this thematic reflection initiated by the IDB. In April, the reflections are borne on soaring prices, and in may on the Haitian private sector development.