Main IDB projects in Haiti before the earthquake

Water and Sanitation

The IDB is supporting Haiti’s Drinking Water and Sanitation Sector Reform, to provide sanitation and potable water services for Saint-Marc, Port-De Paix, Les Cayes, Jacmel, Ouanaminthe and Cap-Haïtien .

Watershed Management and Natural Disaster Risk Prevention and Mitigation

A $30 million IDB 2009 grant will help limit flooding and erosion in watersheds. Planned anti-flooding works in three critical watersheds will cover 6 percent of Haitian territory,bringing benefits to 360,000 people of the Grande Rivière du Nord, Ravine du Sud and Cavaillon watersheds. This project complements a series of interventions to increase farmers incomesincluding irrigation investments and support to value chains in agriculture. Read more

Road Rehabilitation

The IDB has over $200 million in programs to improve the road network especially the primary roads linking major urban and production centers. In 2009, the Bank approved a $25 million grant, the third of a series of four annual grants, to finance road maintenance in the southern departments of Nippes, Grand Anse and Sud. Read more

Economic Governance

The IDB has been a reliable source of budget support for Haiti, promoting key reforms in areas like budgeting and internal controls, tax and customs codes, and commercial dispute resolutions. Read more

Private Sector

The IDB Group supports the private sector in Haiti through the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) and the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC). In 2009, MIF approvals reached $4.9 million. The IIC became an active player in Haiti through the approval of an $18 million loan to Distributeurs Nationaux, S.A. (Dinasa), a Haitian-owned company that is a leading marketer and distributor of fuel, as well as a $300,000 loan to Carifresh, a major supplier of quality agricultural products for export and domestic markets. Read more

Rehabilitation of the distribution network for electricity in Port-au-Prince

The project aims to help in sustaining the continuity and quality of electric utilities to the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince; and to lay the foundation for the technical, administrative, and financial reestablishment of Electricité d'Haiti (EDH) for the medium and long term, through resources for rehabilitation work on the distribution networks and the institutional strengthening of the EDH to reduce operational losses.

Rehabilitation Program for the Hydroelectric Center of Peligre (CHP)

The CHP Program aims to recover and conserve the capacity of electricity generation in Haiti through the rehabilitation of three turbines and other electromechanical equipment of CHP, as well as ensure the delivery of power to the nation’s capital through rehabilitation of the transmission line to Port-au-Prince. This program is unique in that the funding for the technical architecture was provided by the IDB’s Infrastructure Fund and its SECCI Fund. Moreover, it was designed in such as way to include co-finacing from the OPEC Fund for International Development ($15 million) and KfW Bank Group of Germany ($12.5 million). The project is currently in the bidding stages.

Power Distribution Program for the Tabare Industrial Zone

The program aims to provide 24 hours of continuous electricity to the industrial sector of Haiti through the construction of a 60 million volt amperes (MVA) substation in the Tabare district of Port-au-Prince, including a 3.7 mile 115-kV transmission line and 6 circuit distribution systems.

Solar Power Generation Emergency Program

Purchase and installation of solar power generation systems for emergency centers, homeless camps, and key government facilities.

IDB makes $14 million grant to Haiti for electricity

A $14 million grant will help Haiti speed up the recovery of electricity services in Port-au-Prince, which were severely damaged by the January 12 earthquake. The grant complements a previous project to strengthen the capital region’s power grid. Haiti is currently using resources from the earlier operation and a World Bank-financed project to repair critical circuits.

Haiti to rehabilitate and expand water in Port-au-Prince

Haiti will rehabilitate and expand water and sanitation in Port-au-Prince with a $35 million grant provided by the Spanish Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation in Latin America and the Caribbean (Spanish Fund) and a $15 million grant approved today by the IDB. The money will finance high-priority investments to repair infrastructure damaged in the January 12 earthquake; rehabilitating pumping stations, water mains and wells; repairing leaks; providing water to resettlements; installing water meters; purchasing generators and installing water kiosks where connections are not available. A second component of the program will provide funds to DINEPA, Haiti’s national water and sanitation authority, to support day-to-day operations, help establish basic administrative and commercial systems, prepare and implement investment programs, and assess viable options for improving services.

IDB approves $54 million in grants for Haiti roads

A $29 million grant will help complete rehabilitation work on RN1, one of the busiest stretches of the country’s principal highway, in the segment linking Bon Repos, in the northern outskirts of Port-au-Prince, and the city of Saint Marc. A $25 million grant will finance work to improve the secondary road network in Haiti’s southern peninsula. Besides reducing vehicle operation costs and travel time, investments in the Haitian road network generate jobs and business opportunities in the communities where road work is carried out.

IDB makes $30 million grant to Haiti for housing

A $30 million grant will help Haiti relocate some 5,000 families from tent camps in high-risk areas in Port-au-Prince to a new settlement with transitional housing and basic sanitation services. The new settlement will be built on a plot of public land in Les Orangers, an area north of Port-au-Prince, following the guidelines of the Shelter Sector Response Plan, which has been approved by the Haitian government and is backed by various agencies assisting the country after the January 12 earthquake. Under the program, families willing to move to the new neighborhood will receive 18-square meter (about 200 sq ft) houses designed to withstand severe weather conditions. While the units are intended to be transitional, they will be built on individual plots with room for incremental expansions. The community will have access roads, public lighting and communal water and sanitation services, such as water tanks and faucets, latrines, washing sinks and showers. The layout for the neighborhood will set aside areas for schools, health care units and parks. The provision of these social services will be coordinated with other programs and agencies. The housing component will be carried out by two prestigious non-profit organizations, CHF and Habitat for Humanity.

MIF backs mango project in partnership with Coca-Cola

A $3 million MIF grant supports a project in partnership with The Coca Cola Company to boost the incomes and crop output of 25,000 mango farmers in Haiti. Coca Cola pledged $3.5 million for the project, including all the profits from sales of Odwalla Haiti Hope Mango Lime-Aid. The project is being carried out by TechnoServe, a U.S. non-profit organization with extensive experience in promoting agribusinesses in developing countries. Haiti produces high-quality mangoes but only a small fraction of its crop is exported. Due to a combination of poor post-harvest handling methods and bad rural roads, most of the harvested fruit is too damaged by the time it reaches packing plants around Port-au-Prince. The project works with growers who own just a few mango trees, making less than $1,000 a year. Farmers will be trained to improve their tree yields and diversify their production, lessening their dependence on a single crop and bolstering their families’ food security. They will also receive training in handling mangoes after the harvest to reduce fruit damage and rejection ratios. The project will provide farmers assistance in establishing or strengthening grower associations, aiming to help increase their bargaining power and business skills. In addition, the project will support efforts by local investors to establish processing plants to transform non-export grade mangoes into byproducts such as dried fruit or fruit juice.

MIF backs emergency liquidity program for Haitian microfinance institutions

The MIF and a group of foundations established an emergency liquidity program for microfinance institutions to ensure the continuity of microcredit in Haiti. Haitian microfinance institutions had approximately 130,000 borrowers at the end of 2009, with nearly $62 million in loans outstanding. About one quarter of those clients were affected by the earthquake, with loans ranging from $180 to $1,400, according to microlenders. The MIF will provide up to $2 million to the Haitian Emergency Liquidity Program (HELP), which will also receive contributions from partners including the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, the Calmeadow Foundation and the Calvert Foundation. HELP will use the resources to buy earthquake-affected loans from microfinance institutions, providing them fresh funds to maintain their lending operations and preserve their capital base. The program will allow microlenders to restructure loans, offering borrowers extended repayment terms. Microfinance institutions will service the restructured loans over the next three years, after which they will repurchase all or a portion of the remaining loans.

Latin American NGO builds temporary housing in Haiti with MIF support

A $2.6 million MIF grant for the Latin American NGO Un Techo Para Mi País (UTPMP) is supporting a project that will build temporary housing to some 2.000 families left homeless by the earthquake in Haiti. The youth-led UTPMP specializes in providing shelter and training to poor people. Since its establishment in 1997 in Chile, the NGO has spread to 16 countries and built more than 45,000 houses by enlisting young volunteers. The project in Haiti, which will have a total cost of $6.1 million, focuses on areas close to the quake’s epicenter. UTPMP has succeeded in mobilizing hundreds of Haitian college students to build houses with beneficiary families. After an initial phase centered on putting roofs over people’s heads, the project will work on the “social empowerment” of poor people to improve their income prospects.

MIF funds Habitat for Humanity housing reconstruction in Haiti

A $3 million MIF grant supports a project backed by the U.S. NGO Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) to help 500 families rebuild or repair their homes in the Haitian city of Cabaret. Around 3,000 families in this town north of Port-au-Prince lost their houses due to the earthquake. About 9,000 other families need to repair their damaged homes. The $5.2 million project employs HFHI’s “learn by doing” methodology to train participants in building techniques, making construction materials, setting up microenterprises, managing risks and protecting the environment. The project gives priority to poor families where women are heads of household, as well as to those who have lost their means to make a living due to the earthquake or were displaced from Port-au-Prince.