IDB to invest $125 million to improve drinking water and sanitation services in Haiti

Haiti’s Big North region will benefit from a new IDB project that will provide a drinking water supply system and boost sanitation and hygiene conditions

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will deliver a $125 million grant for the water, sanitation and hygiene project in urban, periurban and rural areas in the country’s northernmost region.

The project’s main goal is to improve living conditions in Haiti’s Big North through a series of steps. These include strengthening the sector’s regulations as well as the technical and commercial management of the so-called technical exploitation centers. In addition, the project will improve drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services for urban and rural homes and promote basic hygienic habits.

The program will be implemented by the National Drinking Water and Sanitation Bureau (DIREPA, after its French initials) through the Regional Office of the Northern Water and Sanitation Department (OREPA-North). In particular, it will help strengthen DINEPA structures in northern Haiti.

The program will benefit some 205,000 homes in Gonaïves, Cap-Haitien and other cities in the northernmost region, providing them with safe drinking water as well as quality sanitation and hygiene services. An additional 45,000 rural households will get drinking water and basic sanitation and hygiene services.