Submitted by Bryan Schaaf on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 15:39.
Haiti: update on IDB water projects
August 26, 2008 · No Comments
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is moving forward with an ambitious portfolio of projects in Haiti, the nation that poses the greatest development challenges in the Western Hemisphere.
[...]
The Haitian government [ains to expand] coverage of potable water to 70% of the population by 2010, up from about half the population at present. The IDB, the leading source of financing for water projects in Haiti, has focused its activities in promoting institutional reform in the sector and expanding services in secondary cities and rural communities. It is also funding studies on water services in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan region.
A $54 million loan is financing the improvement of potable water services in Jacmel, Les Cayes, Ouanaminthe, Port-de-Paix and Saint-Marc. In Saint-Marc, $10 million in civil works have been completed and clean water is flowing to dozens of public water kiosks and to thousands of individual connections. Currently the Haitian government is holding a tender to select a consulting firm to provide technical advice to the SNEP utility on managing of Saint-Marc’s water system.
Work in the other four cities should be completed over the next two years. A favorable sign is that there now is a foreign company participating as a contractor. Until recently, one of the problems hindering progress of infrastructure projects was the lack of foreign competitors due to their perception of Haiti’s security risks. A Dominican firm and a Haitian firm are due to carry out a $7.4 million project in Port-de- Paix, which Public Works Minister Frantz Vérella estimates will be finished in 10 months.
Besides that urban program, late in 2006 the IDB approved a $15 million soft loan for a project to bring potable water and sanitation services to rural areas. Studies have been completed and construction is to begin by end-2008 in the region surrounding Jeremie, the largest city on Haiti’s southwestern coast. These small-scale projects will be carried out through a participatory process, in which local residents will decide whether to take part in the program, choose the systems best suited to their needs and their capacity to operate and maintain them, and establish local water user committees to run the services.
IDB Water Projects Update (8/27/2008)
Haiti: update on IDB water projects
August 26, 2008 · No Comments
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is moving forward with an ambitious portfolio of projects in Haiti, the nation that poses the greatest development challenges in the Western Hemisphere.
[...]
The Haitian government [ains to expand] coverage of potable water to 70% of the population by 2010, up from about half the population at present. The IDB, the leading source of financing for water projects in Haiti, has focused its activities in promoting institutional reform in the sector and expanding services in secondary cities and rural communities. It is also funding studies on water services in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan region.
A $54 million loan is financing the improvement of potable water services in Jacmel, Les Cayes, Ouanaminthe, Port-de-Paix and Saint-Marc. In Saint-Marc, $10 million in civil works have been completed and clean water is flowing to dozens of public water kiosks and to thousands of individual connections. Currently the Haitian government is holding a tender to select a consulting firm to provide technical advice to the SNEP utility on managing of Saint-Marc’s water system.
Work in the other four cities should be completed over the next two years. A favorable sign is that there now is a foreign company participating as a contractor. Until recently, one of the problems hindering progress of infrastructure projects was the lack of foreign competitors due to their perception of Haiti’s security risks. A Dominican firm and a Haitian firm are due to carry out a $7.4 million project in Port-de- Paix, which Public Works Minister Frantz Vérella estimates will be finished in 10 months.
Besides that urban program, late in 2006 the IDB approved a $15 million soft loan for a project to bring potable water and sanitation services to rural areas. Studies have been completed and construction is to begin by end-2008 in the region surrounding Jeremie, the largest city on Haiti’s southwestern coast. These small-scale projects will be carried out through a participatory process, in which local residents will decide whether to take part in the program, choose the systems best suited to their needs and their capacity to operate and maintain them, and establish local water user committees to run the services.
Source: IDB, 18 Jul 2008
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