Business
Haiti Rebuilds: Martelly launches electricity program
The families in question live in two of the most remote corners of the country, the Grand-Anse, the mountainous tip of the western peninsula, and the Northwest province.
In the end, the program seeks to give a power supply to 200,000 households within two years before moving onto the rest of Haiti, Martelly said.
“We feel they have less access than the rest of the country,” said Rene Jean-Jumeau, Secretary of State of Energy.
Another part of the program, budgeted for US$15 million, will give the government loans so that mayors in the countryside can line 375 kilometers (233 miles) of streets with lamps. It will begin in three years.
The government project will also focus on urban areas. It will repair street lights and electric posts in 10 popular neighborhoods with US$300,000 from the national treasury.
The program joins other efforts to boost energy production in Haiti.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) last month announced that it had approved a US$20 million grant to help refurbish Haiti’s Peligre hydroelectric plant, the country’s largest renewable energy generation facility.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press
