Donors pledge $3.8 bln for Haiti
Propose a MDTF, supervised by World Bank
Viernes, 19 de Marzo de 2010
BY MANUEL JIMENEZ
Reuters
SANTO DOMINGO – International donors are ready to provide $3.8 billion over 18 months to help Haiti rebuild after its devastating Jan. 12 earthquake, experts and officials preparing a high-level donors conference said.
That figure came in a statement released late Wednesday after a two-day meeting in Dominican Republic of representatives of the Haitian government, donor nations, U.N. agencies and humanitarian groups.
The preparatory meeting, ahead of a scheduled March 31 donors conference for Haiti in New York, set out the broad outlines of a reconstruction strategy for the Caribbean nation whose economy and infrastructure were decimated by the Jan. 12 quake.
The government of Haiti, which was already the poorest state in the Western Hemisphere, says at least 222,570 people and possibly more than 300,000 were killed in what some experts are calling the deadliest natural disaster of modern times.
“Donors are committing to provide $3.8 billion to finance the reconstruction and recovery of Haiti’s priority needs, over a period of 18 months, as indicated in the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA),” said the statement from the Santo Domingo experts’ meeting.
The meeting, which was chaired by Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez and Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and brought together 28 nations and institutions, also announced a commitment to give Haiti’s government an additional $350 million in direct budgetary support for 2010.
To manage the $3.8 billion in 18-month reconstruction funds, the experts proposed the creation of a Multi-Donors Trust Fund (MDTF) to be administered by a steering committee jointly formed by the Haitian government and donors. The World Bank would supervise operation of the fund.
In the report that it presented to the Santo Domingo meeting, Haiti’s government assessed the damage caused by the quake at more than $7.7 billion dollars. It estimated a total of $11.5 billion would be needed for reconstruction.
CORRUPTION THREAT GENERATES UNEASE
Despite concerns about high levels of government corruption in Haiti, which have stymied past aid efforts, the administration of Haitian President Rene Preval has insisted it should have the ultimate say in the reconstruction of the country.
“We’ll accept all the help that you want to give us, but allow us to rebuild Haiti,” Bellerive told the experts’ conference, held at a seaside hotel in Santo Domingo.
Preval said in an interview Tuesday that the Haitian presidency should have veto power over any reconstruction projects.
He angrily described as “arrogant” a U.S. State Department Human Rights report on Haiti for 2009, prepared before the January quake, which criticized widespread corruption “in all branches and at all levels” of the Haitian government.
Preval’s irritation at the report threatened to sour Haiti’s ties with its main quake relief partner, the United States, which has sent thousands of soldiers, doctors and aid workers to the Caribbean nation.
Two former U.S. presidents, Bill Clinton, who has been named by the U.N. as coordinator of the international relief effort, and George W. Bush, will visit Haiti together on Monday to support the recovery and reconstruction effort.
The document added that a commitment to good governance by the Haitian government was essential to ensure transparent and prudent use of donor funds.
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