Business
Haiti rising from the ashes: Industrial Park attracting businesses
Haiti President Michel Martelly at ground breaking ceremony in Caracol. PHOTO/Haiti Libre
The government of Haiti agreed Tuesday to allow a local painting manufacturing company become the second tenant at a major industrial park under construction in the northern end of the country.
The agreement came after President Michel Martelly took a tour of a 10-megawatt electrical plant that will power the Caracol Haiti Industrial Park and houses for up to 1,500 workers by year’s end.
The newest tenant, Peintures Caraibes SA, will join South Korean garment manufacturer Sae-A Trading Co. Ltd. and will export paint made by Sherwin Williams along with its own locally made paint.
The facility will initially employ 167 people, with the expectation of hiring a total of 350 people, said Pierre Yves Gardere, CEO of Peintures Caraibes.
“It’s Haiti companies that came to the park and we’re waiting for others to come, too,” Martelly said at the future site of Peintures Caraibes, which is expected to begin production in October.
Financed by US$224 million in subsidies, the Caracol Park is the U.S.’s biggest investment in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake clobbered the capital of Port-au-Prince and threw up to 1.5 million people into grim settlements in southern Haiti.
The bulk of reconstruction has focused on the crowded capital and other heavily damaged cities, but the U.S. government has also directed rebuilding efforts to other parts of Haiti.
