Two new reports on "Reconstruction, " by Haiti Grassroots Watch

A Tale of Two Cities

Port-au-Prince, 24 September 2012 - One city was built just last year (Zorange). A project costing over US$2 million. Dozens of brightly painted new homes, scattered across a two-hectare site. Today they are empty. Some have been vandalized… and worse. The scene is desolate and can be disgusting. But the project’s backers say it was a “success.”

The other city is the “heart of Haiti,” Port-au-Prince’s downtown. Despite hundreds of thousands dollars spent on plans and conferences, it remains dirty, disorganized, and un-reconstructed. The government is starting to build its own buildings, but what is everyone else supposed to do?

The following two-article series is published by Haiti Grassroots Watch in Kreyol, English and French.

1. Housing exposition exposes waste, cynicism

By Haiti Grassroots Watch, Sept 24, 2012

Zoranje, HAITI – The smells and scenes that greet a visitor to this eerily empty collection of over 60 brightly painted homes and buildings verge on the obscene. Some of the houses are filled with piles of desiccated human excrement, their recently built living rooms and kitchens turned into public latrines. A few appear occupied by squatters. Paint is chipping. Doors have been torn from hinges. Toilets and sinks ripped out.

One of the first Haitian reconstruction projects to receive approval, funding and the enthusiastic backing of former President Bill Clinton and his foundation – over US $2 million ­from public and private sources – today is called by many participants and even some organizers “a farce,” “a disaster,” and “a waste of money.”

Fourteen months after Clinton himself opened the “Housing Exposition” just outside the capital, almost all of the model homes sit empty. Well over a dozen have been severely vandalized.

Read the full article here: http://haitigrassrootswatch.squarespace.com/20eng

2. Reconstruction of the capital's downtown? Or of the ministries?

By Haiti Grassroots Watch, Sept 24, 2012

Port-au-Prince,  – Even though a restrictive government decree that essentially blocked the reconstruction process downtown for almost two years was annulled on May 29, 2012, questions, frustrations and doubts abound about the eventual recovery of Haiti’s economic, cultural and political capital. All signs indicate that rather than focusing on the infrastructure work necessary for all sectors, the government is more interested in the reconstruction of its public administration buildings.

The past 32 months have seen meetings, colloquiums, studies and declarations. Hundreds of thousands of dollars and gourdes have been spent. But a drive through downtown (not always easy, due to garbage and street vendors) shows that, aside from rubble removal, little reconstruction has taken place. Only one significant building has gone up, and one street is under repair. Everywhere else is a jumble of ruins, rubble, at least four corn fields, and mounds of garbage that poison the air.

Business district not in the reconstruction business

Many of the large businesses have left downtown for Tabarre, Petion-ville and Delmas, clearing the way for informal sector vendors who have taken over the dusty streets and sidewalks. Other shopkeepers and businesspeople seem almost hopeless.

“Port-au-Prince will never be like it was 25 years ago,” a shopkeeper in his fifties told Haiti Grassroots Watch (HGW) as he sat in his mostly empty kitchen appliance store on the Rue des Miracles. “Nothing is going to happen,” he said, adding that the shop had been looted in the weeks following the earthquake.

In spite of the determination and confidence shown by the government of President Michel Martelly and Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, HGW’s investigation and survey of 15 merchants revealed that most remain skeptical and know nothing about plans for downtown. Some are considering moving their businesses due to the degrading conditions in which they are trying to make a living. All of them agreed to speak to HGW only on condition that their identities not be revealed.

Read the full article here: http://haitigrassrootswatch.squarespace.com/21eng

INDEX
Ayiti Kale Je • Haiti Grassroots Watch • Haïti Veedor Dossier

1 Haiti's homeless 12/10/2010 Dossier
2 Cash for... What? 9/11/2010 Dossier
3 Elections 2010 23/11/2010 Dossier
4 Cholera 21/12/2010 Dossier
5 Anniversary 12/1/2011 Dossier
6 Seed distribution 30/3/2011 Dossier
7 Port-au-Prince "reconstruction" 9/6/2011 Dossier
8 Cash for Work - At What Cost? 18/7/2011 Dossier
9 Abandoned like a stray dog 23/8/2011 Dossier
10 Five years for one drop of water 4/11/2 Dossier
11 Haiti - "Open for Business" 29/11/2011 Dossier
12 "Dream House" Nightmare 14/12/2011 Dossier
13 University - Nation in Peril 23/2/2012 Dossier
14 Reconstruction $ Flushed Away? 8/3/2012 Dossier
15 Shelters Don't Shelter Needy 15/3/2012 Dossier
16 Liquid Death 17/4/2012 Dossier
17 Partners in Deforestation 21/5/2012 Dossier
18 Gold Rush in Haiti 30/5/2012 Dossier
19 Mystery Houses 10/7/2012 Dossier
20 Housing Expo 24/9/2012 Dossier
21 Reconstruction of Downtown? 24/9/2012