11 months after groundbreaking, the President of the Republic of Haiti, Michel Joseph Martelly officially launched the Industrial Park of Caracol (PIC) with Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Luis Alberto Moreno, President of the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) and former President Bill Clinton. Ministers and government officials were present to welcome Haitian and foreign guests. The Secretary of State was accompanied by Mrs Hilda Solis, Secretary of Labor and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont). President Martelly and Secretary of State Clinton also had a bilateral meeting.

"This Industrial Park of Caracol, built with the help of our partners from the Interamerican Development Bank and the US Government is also the result of a national consensus. It is an ongoing project that the Government of Haiti along with the investors will have to exploit for it to grow " said President Martelly. He continued by saying, "We need to set up other parks in the country. Time is no longer of aid but for sustainable investments."

With a land size of 622 acres, the Caracol Industrial Park fits geographically and economically in the heart of a true dynamic technopolis in the Greater North of Haiti, just a few miles from the new Henry Christophe university campus. In Cap Haitian, the airport can now accommodate larger carriers and the region offers high tourism potential to cruise ships docking in Labadie. In addition, construction of a new port facility is very far advanced into being a reality.

Public investment for the Park exceeds $224M. It will ultimately hire over 60,000 people (by 2016). The CIP is the largest industrial park of the Caribbean and the Central America Region and represents one the most ambitious project in Haitian history.

The park construction was funded by IDB. The United States has committed to building a power plant and started the construction of 5,000 housing units in the region, that U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton came to visit today.

"We started less than a year ago, and today, over a thousand people from the surrounding communities work in the park. Two tenants, the Korean company S&H Global SA (one of the world leading garment manufacturers) and Peintures Caraibes have already established their factories, and soon a third tenant will join them. The power plant produces enough electricity to meet the needs and the water treatment plant produces 2400 m3 of drinkable water drinking water daily! This suggests the considerable potential in terms of industrial development offered by the Park" says Georges Barau Sassine, Director of the National Society of Industrial Parks (Sonapi).

These regional opportunities and the first facilities have been revealed to the American trade delegation who accompanied former US Pdt Clinton, who is also co-chair of the Presidential Advisory Council on Economic Growth and Investment (PACEGI), as well as to SEA-A Korean guests visiting Haiti. Richard Branson (Virgin Group) was attending, along with Donna Karan(Urban Zen), Frank Ranieri (Punta Can, DR), Sean Penn, Ben Stiller or Petra Nemcova, amongst other celebrities.

Expo Caracol 2012, an exhibition organized for the occasion by Sonapi in the main event building was showcasing as a reconstitution of a street of Cap Haitian, the unique "savoir-faire" and local productions in agribusiness sector, assembly, handicraft and tourism, such as essential oils, mangos, coffee, etc. More than 700 guests attended the ceremony.

Learn more about SONAPI

National Society of Industrial Parks (Sonapi). The Caracol Industrial Park (PIC), as well as the Metropolitan Industrial Park (PIM) located in Port-au- Prince, are the property of SONAPI, an industrial and commercial autonomous body under public law, which duty is to implement, promote, organize and manage Industrial Parks in the Republic of Haiti. Managed by a specialized private company, the Caracol Industrial Park is an economic priority and is part of the policy of the Government of Haiti to boost employment and create economic opportunities outside of Port-au-Prince.

HL/ HaitiLibre