ARTICLE - THE NORTH INDUSTRIAL PARK TAKES SHAPE

HAITI - ECONOMY: THE NORTH INDUSTRIAL PARK TAKES SHAPE
(HaitiLibre) -

The North Industrial Park Project supported by the Government of Haiti, the United States government and the IDB, is taking shape and includes all components of development: environment, urban planning, and dialogue with the territorial collectivities.

In early June 2011, Cheryl Mills, Chief of Staff of Hillary Clinton of the U.S. State Department traveled for the 2nd time to the North accompanied by Mr. Kenneth Merten, U.S. Ambassador to Haiti, Tony Chan of the USAID and Mark D'Sa of the State Department to meet with local partners to assess the progress of the project preparations.

During this visit, the delegation, accompanied by Georges Sassine, executive director of the CTMO-HOPE, was received by the Chamber of Commerce of Fort Liberté, head of the department of the North East, which hosts the Industrial Park of North. Following the pre-feasibility study for the establishment of an industrial park in the North conducted on behalf of the IDB, the work of closing off the land of 250 hectares has been undertaken and completed. A contract for hydrogeological studies and a study contract of the social and environmental impacts has been concluded. A hydrogeological study contract and a contract for studies of social and environmental impacts has been concluded. A digital terrain model reserved for the park and a parcel map for the implementation of geotechnical testing and verifying the quality of groundwater and surface water are also in progress as well as the realization of a reconnaissance drilling.

A compensation plan for farmers, also called "Resettlement Action Plan", is being developed. In order to prevent the growth of slums around the site, it is also intended to prohibit any new construction within a specified area around the site for a certain number of years.

Studies that should lead on urban plans for the cities of Ferrier, Fort-Liberté, Terrier Rouge, Caracol, Trou du Nord, Limonade and Quartier-Morin, as well as real estate operations, of development, of elimination of inadequate housing, of beautification and expansion and of construction of social housing in these various communes, in accordance with urban planning and the scheme of territorial coherence will be validated and are in progress.

These steps must also establish that this project will not harm the ecosystem of the Bay of Caracol, a condition sine qua non for its realization.