Business
Haiti update: Pace of reconstruction slow
The billions of dollars in aid that flowed into Haiti after its shattering earthquake were meant to build a new nation with thriving farms, apparel factories, modern hospitals and paved roads in the countryside.
Ambitious plans call for US$500 million to build 50 new grade schools, US$200 million to give Port-au-Prince its first wastewater treatment plant, and US$224 million to create an industrial park for 65,000 garment industry workers, all aimed at laying the groundwork for a new Haiti.
But as the country marks the second anniversary of the earthquake that killed some 300,000 people, only about half of the US$4.6 billion in promised aid has been spent. Half a million people are still living in crowded camps. And only four of the 10 largest projects funded by international donors have broken ground.
The optimistic rallying cry promoted shortly after the earthquake, to “build back better,” has turned out to be much harder to achieve than anyone imagined. Reconstruction efforts have been stymied by the same problems that impoverished Haiti in the first place: chronic political instability, a lack of a robust central government, and a tattered infrastructure in a nation where, even before the earthquake, half the children did not attend school and more than half the population was unemployed.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the U. N. Special Envoy to Haiti, said in an interview Wednesday that the reality of Haiti and its complicated history made the hoped-for reconstruction difficult.
“We had massive, massive problems in Haiti before the earthquake,” Clinton told The Associated Press. “A lot of this stuff we’re not trying to rebuild, we’re actually trying to do it right for the first time.”
Haitian President Michel Martelly also acknowledged that achievements have fallen far short of expectations, describing progress so far as “definitely, not enough,” in an interview with the BBC.
“But lately, since I have been in power, I will say that we have shown strong signals that things are changing and moving in Haiti,” said the president, who took office in May and whose squabbles with parliament have contributed to the delays.
