Thursday, $28 million have been reserved by the Steering Committee of the Haiti Reconstruction Fund (HRF), to support the reconstruction through the government budget. Marie Carmelle Jean Marie, Minister of Economy and Finance who chaired the meeting, has committed so that the budget support be used to finance priority reconstruction projects of the Government. An additional $3.5 million has also been reserved to support investment in the education sector.

The Council of Ministers asked the HRF to fund 5 priority investments :

• The rehabilitation of the 115 kV transmission line Peligre - Port-au-Prince

• The construction of a national center of radiotherapy and chemotherapy

• The urbanization of the zone Canaan- Jérusalem

• The functioning of the new University Hospital of Mirebalais a program of job creation

These priorities will now be funded directly by the government budget, rather than indirectly through the United Nations and the Inter-American Development Bank.

The Finance Minister declared : "I thinkthat the resources of HRF for budget support will be properly used o finance the Government's priorities for reconstruction."

Recall that during one of its previous meetings, the HRF Steering Committee had already reserved nearly 20 million for the budget support, bringing the total funds available to the government budget to 48 million U.S. dollars.

The Steering Committee also discussed the issue of the future of the Fund. Josef Leitmann, the Fund Manager, explaided : "The fund can : mobilizing new contributions; continue with daily activities or reduce its activities to a minimum, but remain in function until 2017." The consensus was that the HRF is useful and should continue to work to support the recovery and development of Haiti.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-7823-haiti-reconstruction-health-energy-the-hrf-allocates-$18-million.html

HL/ HaitiLibre