Boucle Centre Artibonite (English version)

ENNERY

GONAÏVES

PONT SONDE

DESDUNES

SAINT MARC

L’ESTERE

SAINTRAPHAEL

CAP HAÏTIEN

LIMBE

DONDON

SAINTMICHEL

MIREBALAIS

SAUT D’EAU LASCAHOBAS

BELLADERE

ELIASPINA

THOMASSIQUE

RESTAURACION

DAJABONOUANAMINTHE

FORT LIBERTE

HINCHEMAISSADE

PORT AU PRINCE

PIGNON

THOMONDE

LA CHAPELLE

DESARMES

MARCHANDDESSALINES

BOUCAN CARRÉ

PETITE RIVIERE

THE CENTER-ARTIBONITE LOOPHAITI TOMORROW

NOVEMBER 2010

GOVERNMENT OF HAITI

Inter-Ministerial Committee For Territorial Development

CIAT

TERRITORIAL GOALS AND STRATEGIES FOR RECONSTRUCTION

32 CIAT - HAÏTI TOMORROW - THE CENTER-ARTIBONITE LOOP

INTRODUCTION

1. THE ROAD

- Networked cities - Half an hour to the city - Types of roads to be developed - Actions being implemented and actions to be undertaken - Management and fi nancing of roads

2. THE LAND

- An emblematic region - Vulnerability of the environment - Land use - The structure of agricultural production - Irrigation and drinking water - Energy production and supply - Modernizing agriculture and developing processing industries

3. THE PEOPLE

- Population distribution and land ownership - Roads with two speeds - Hygiene and waste management - Healthcare networks - Education and vocational training - Transport hubs and community life centers

4. THE PROJECTS

- Community development - Mirebalais - Thomonde - Hinche - Pignon - Maïssade - Saint-Raphaël - Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye - Marchand-Dessalines - Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite - Verrettes - La Chapelle - Boucan Carré - Lascahobas - Saut d’Eau - Planned investments - Governance

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ROUTE DE MIREBALAIS À THOMONDE

p. 5

p. 21

p. 7

p. 37

p. 53

� e Center-Artibonite Loop project proposal represents the con� guration, over time, of a space conceived as an organic whole, built around a backbone network of roads designed to provide the region with a strong structure.It presents a concrete example for regional planning that is designed to integrate economic development, each one inducing the other, each leading to the other. � is model structures Haitian territory. Once implemented, the Center-Artibonite loop will become a reference for Haiti, tomorrow.

THE CENTER-ARTIBONITE LOOPHAITI TOMORROW

54 INTRODUCTIONCIAT - HAÏTI TOMORROW - THE CENTER-ARTIBONITE LOOP

INTRODUCTIONThe Republic of Haiti is characterized by wide ecological and climatic diversity, both due to its geographic location and its inherent characteristics, especially its hilly terrain and a lengthy coastline (more than 1,000 km out of a total surface area of 28,000 km2). These characteristics make it naturally fragile: it is located in an area of high seismic activity, lies on the path of hurricanes, and the risks of fl ooding are as great as those of drought. This natural fragility is heightened by a socioeconomic precariousness that manifests itself in an inability to organize the land and the diffi culty, if not the impossibility, of deploying responses in equal proportion to the risks.

Recent years have been marked by a dramatic aggravation of the country’s physical and human vulnerability. In May 2004, a few hours of exceptionally heavy rains wiped out the hamlet of Fonds Verrettes and the village of Mapou. In September 2004, Hurricane Jeanne caused more than 5,000 deaths, most of them in the city of Gonaïves. In 2008, hurricanes Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike caused fewer casualties, but the damage to infrastructure and homes was substantial.

The message from Mother Nature is clear: the coastal areas, especially cities with high population density downstream from degraded watersheds, are threatened.

Droughts have been less spectacular, but ten major droughts were recorded between 1968 and 2000, affecting more than 1.5 million people. Climate change is a worry the world over.

According to experts, climate change in Haiti may take the form of a noticeable increase in the volume of precipitation, and thus greater risks for all of the cities along the coasts or those at the mouth of valleys with major rivers.

The earthquake of January 12, 2010, brought us a painful reminder that the Caribbean is an area with intense seismic activity and that the most threatened regions are the South, crossed by the Enriquillo fault line, and the North, by the Northern fault line. With the coasts being threatened with fl ooding, the South regularly ravaged by hurricanes, and the southern peninsula and far north threatened by earthquakes, the Center and Artibonite region constitutes a propitious area for focusing public investments over the next ten years, contingent on a new logic of land use.

At present, it is imperative that there be changes in how Haiti’s territory is organized and equipped. Rethinking the territory must be coupled with the need to make decentralization a reality, and a means for land use management.

As a follow-up to the project proposal, «Haiti Tomorrow», which offered general ideas for the entire territory, the Center-Artibonite Loop projects over time a space conceived of as an organic whole, built around a backbone network of roads designed to provide the region with a strong structure. Meetings with the populations involved, accompanied by discussions with government authorities and civil society, have allowed us to improve on the technicians’ proposals and include the thoughts and desires of those who will sustain the life of the loop in reality.

The Center-Artibonite Loop project proposal presents a concrete example for regional planning that is designed to integrate economic development, each one inducing the other, each leading to the other. This is a model for structuring Haitian territory. Once implemented, the Center-Artibonite loop will constitute a reference for Haiti, tomorrow.

7THE ROAD6 CIAT - HAÏTI TOMORROW - THE CENTER-ARTIBONITE LOOP

THE ROAD1.

� roughout the 20th century, Haiti had the endlessly repeated experience of seeing roads built for millions of dollars, increasing the country’s external debt without leading to regional or national development.

� e Center-Artibonite loop is designed to depart from the linear thinking of a road as inherently generating development and modernization and replace it with a road seen as the backbone of an economic and social development plan to be set in motion.

� e Center-Artibonite loop has been desig-ned as a territorial entity given structure by a road that connects, in an organic manner, two historically di� erentiated zones (the French Artibonite and the Spanish Center), each with its own character. � e Artibonite has had decades of investment in agricul-tural infrastructure and is focused on the cities of Gonaïves and Saint-Marc, while the Center has been inwardly focused, with the Dominican Republic being a much closer counterpart than Port-au-Prince.

Completing the existing network of roads that interconnects the 14 communities on the loop would serve to overcome historical obstacles, to create a new economic and societal zone and to o� er a life-size model for developing Haitian territory.


RE

PU

BL

IQU

E D

OM

INIC

AIN

E

PORT AU PRINCE

Port De Paix

MôleSaint Nicolas

Limbe

Ennery

Gonaïves

Saint Marc

Dondon

Thomassique

Miragoâne

Leogâne

Grand Goâve

Petit Goâve

Jacmel

Les Cayes

Jeremie

Desdunes

Lestère

Pont Sondé

Cap Haitien

Fort Liberte

Ouanaminthe

Dajabon

Restauracion

SAINT RAPHAELSAINT MICHEL DE

L’ATTALAYE

MIREBALAIS


BelladereElias Piña

Jimani

HINCHE

PIGNON

THOMONDE

LA CHAPELLE

DESARMES (VERRETTES)

MARCHANDDESSALINES

PETITE RIVIEREDE L’ARTIBONITE

BOUCAN CARRE

MAISSADE

� e coastal cities highwayand the Center-Artibonite loop

0 10 50km


NETWORKED CITIES

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TERRITORY

ADMINISTRATIVE BOUNDARIES

THE ARTIBONITE CENTER - HAITI2 million inhabitants

240 km

RANDSTAD - THE NETHERLANDS7.5 million inhabitants

180 km

TUSCANY - ITALY3.6 million inhabitants

350 km

During recent history, these lands of the Artibonite have been Haiti’s pride and joy as this dry valley was transformed into a rich plain for rice cultivation between 1930 and 1986. The wide open space of the Central Plateau, sparsely populated and barely urbanized, has always had value, in Haitians’ eyes, as virgin territories with great potential. During the 19th and early 20th century, the destruction of a second-growth forest paved the way for the development of a peasant agriculture producing staple crops and providing a means of living for a sparse rural population. Its economic importance gradually dwindled due to a nationwide regression that followed the decline of an agricultural system which became open to world markets and no longer able to maintain the fertility of its soils.

Except for Mirebalais, Petite-Rivière and Verrettes, all of the towns and cities that now make up the area we call the Center-Artibonite loop, came into being after Haiti’s independence in 1804. They were erected according to the colonial, checkerboard model, even if this model shows signs of disappearing amidst building carried out willy-nilly, with no master plan.

In a new era, these areas can regain their due by drawing on existing values. For this to occur, one must create conditions that allow for the deployment of a system founded on social equality and sharing, based on the complementary nature of cities and agricultural products, on the creation and management of an effective transportation network, and the sharing of services and facilities.

This construction project could become the basic model for regional development in Haiti and provide additional guidance for reconstruction efforts in Port-au-Prince

Ennery

Fort Liberte

GONAÏVES

Pont Sonde

Liancourt

Desdunes

SAINT MARC

L’estere

SAINTRAPHAEL

Dondon

Cap Haïtien

Limbe

MIREBALAISSAUT D’EAU

LASCAHOBAS BELLADERE

EliasPina

Thomassique

OUANAMINTHE

HINCHEMAISSADE

THOMONDE

LA CHAPELLE

BOUCAN CARRE

DESARMES

VERRETTES

MARCHANDDESSALINES

PIGNON

0 10 20

The Center-Artibonite loop covers 14 municipalities located in 3 provinces («departments»): the Artibonite, the Center and the North. The urban centers of ten of these municipalities are on the loop itself, while four municipalities: Boucan Carré, Lascahobas and Saut-d’Eau - opening onto Mirebalais, and Maïssade half-way between Hinche and Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye, occupy the interior zone. 1.2 million people inhabit this zone of 4,634 km2, resulting in an average density of 2.6 inhabitants per hectare.

The sociological structure of this entity is a highly-dispersed, essentially agricultural population. This is the direct result of how land was distributed between the jolts of the French Revolution and the agrarian politics of the independent country at the end of the 18th century and the fi rst quarter of the 19th century. Only 23% of the population (222,000 inhabitants) live in «urban centers», or «urban sectors» of each of the municipalities, with an average density of 70 inhabitants per hectare.

However, these centers do not represent what one expects to fi nd in a city. The basic functions, water and electricity, and even more so, a minimum of sanitary conditions, are not available everywhere and facilities and services are embryonic and not well organized.

This is the great challenge of a project based on a triple approach: - Creating a reliable and effi cient set of links by road, thus generating a community of practices between the cities; - Improving services in each of the cities in question; - Building, on existing conditions, a network of shared facilities designed to fi t the scale of the entire loop.

after the trauma of the earthquake. The circular city is a territorial development model that combines a network of cities with agricultural lands. Comparing it to Holland’s «Randstad» or Tuscany’s «la Città continuata», the idea is not to look for references in European models of development, but rather to highlight similarities of scale and urban systems. The strong points in these economic regions are their broad agricultural lands, cities set up in rings and openings to the sea via the port cities.

A perimeter of 180 km for 7.5 million inhabitants in the Netherlands, 350 km for 3.6 million inhabitants in Tuscany, and 240 km for a potential 2 million inhabitants in Haiti provide scales for comparisons between similar models. These derive their culture and their potential from the specifi c features of their geography. Without seeking further analogies, the idea developed for Haiti consists of imagining an economic and urban alternative to the disorderly proliferation of major cities.

This «urban network», if well-organized and connected to the port cities of Saint-Marc and Gonaïves to the west, to Cap-Haïtien in the north and Port-au-Prince in the south, and to the Dominican Republic on the east, could become a potent template for development:- By building a favorable environment for fi nancial investments, and especially for the development of agribusiness activities that complement local agricultural production;- By careful planning and giving priority to rapid means of getting agricultural products to market;- By offering the inhabitants adequate living conditions and basic facilities with a balanced allotment between the rural world and the urban world that provides services and employment.

SAINTMICHEL DE L’ATTALAYE

PETITE RIVIERE DE L’ARTIBONITE

km

From rural towns living o� the hinterland to easily accessible cities set up in networks: a pre-requisite for creating an alternative to increased population density in major city centers.


HALF AN HOUR TO THE CITY

Ten equidistant urban centers

The ten urban centers within the circuit are laid out in a nearly uniform fashion, hedging the principle for the two linking segments between Mirebalais and Thomonde, and from Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye to Marchand-Dessalines, that are more mountainous and sparsely populated. The same goes for Maïssade and Boucan Carré inside the loop.

The average distance between these endpoints is 24 km, a distance close to the design principle behind the historic «county seats», purportedly reachable in a day’s ride on horseback. In the current situation, using a conventional average driving speed of 50 km/hr. for modern paved roads in Haiti, each city will potentially be linked to the next by a travel time of half an hour.

Public transportation systems that provide structure

Development of the highway system will substantially change the travel time between urban centers that are currently equidistant but poorly serviced. This simple fact will bring about a major transformation in relations between inhabitants of these cities.

It might seem paradoxical to introduce time schedules in a land where the very notion of time seems to have been banished long ago, but this is nevertheless the key initial assumption in building the theoretical models for economic and social organization of the territory.

Easily accessible cities

The notion of a «city a half-hour away» will serve as a framework for organizing basic services. The fi rst-level facilities (major hospitals or universities) will be laid out based on other placement criteria without being more than an hour and a half ’s travel from any point on the circuit. This basic framework will be complemented by a network of highly-effi cient «trunk lines» and by the farm roads that penetrate further into the hinterland. These radial arteries will defi ne the location of connecting nodes located in the central cities or between them.

ENNERY

GONAÏVES

PONT SONDE

DESDUNES

SAINT MARC

L’ESTERE

SAINTRAPHAEL

CAP HAÏTIEN

LIMBE

DONDON

MIREBALAIS


BELLADERE

ELIASPINA

THOMASSIQUE

RESTAURACION

DAJABONOUANAMINTHE

FORT LIBERTE

HINCHE

MAISSADE

PORT AU PRINCE

PIGNON

THOMONDE

LA CHAPELLE

DESARMES

MARCHANDDESSALINES

BOUCAN CARRÉ

20 km

THE TRANSPORTATION NETWORKR

EP

UB

LIQ

UE

DO

MIN

ICA

INE

Networks, routings and transport hubs

IIn Haiti, roads have several functions: as a place for travel, a place for socializing and a place of business. In addition, transporting people is almost always combined with transporting goods, without any concern for effi ciency or time management.

Within an economic development plan that introduces processing industries, and where secondary, tertiary and services jobs will be added to agricultural and commercial types of employment, rational use of the roadways and a segregation of the means of transportation will become a necessity.

By design, the circuit is the ideal place to institute a «sequentially-ordered» network of mass transportation. Thus, on the hour or half-hour, buses could leave each of the cities, instituting here and there new practices and new habits.

However, this network should not necessarily be designed as a circular network. It would seem more worthwhile to include links in the system of transportation to the coastal cities (Cap-Haïtien, Les Gonaïves, Saint-Marc, Port-au-Prince), as well as to Belladère and Elias Pina (in the Dominican Republic).

Three «tangential» routings: from Gonaïves and Saint-Marc to Belladère, from Saint-Marc to Cap Haïtien and from Port-au-Prince to Cap Haïtien would thus service the entire loop.

These routings establish three major junction-points: Mirebalais, Saint-Raphaël and Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite. Account should be taken of their special role on the circuit in order to plan for greater economic development and larger population in-fl ows than in the other nodal cities. They will thus require earlier installations of facilities and planning for more rapid urban expansion.

The Loop

Perimeter 240 km Potential Population 2 million inhabitants Transit Speed 50 km/h Stages 10 cities averaging 26

km/30 min apart Strategic Junctions 10 A dense network of farm roads



PAP-CH Line via the Central Plateau (RN3)

Saint Marc - Cap Haïtien Line

Artibonite - Dominican Republic Line

Center - Artibonite Loop

A «sequentially segmented» loop to reduce travel time, facilitate the movement of goods and people, and to e� ciently distribute shared facilities.


TYPES OF ROADS TO BE DEVELOPED

On a national scale, Haiti’s intercity highway network is categorized at three levels:- the backbone network, , made up of the national highways that interconnect the capitals of the ten provinces and which comprise the main national travel itineraries. It should be possible to travel on this network at a moderate speed (i.e. 60-80 km/hr.), with maximum safety and comfort.- the secondary network, which services large urban

THE TERTIARY NETWORK : � e farm roads

These are farm-to-market routes that serve to move the population groups dispersed throughout the hinterland of the loop and to transport farm products to small rural centers, towns and cities.

This is a very dense network: more than 1,500 km of unpaved roads and dirt tracks with 180 river crossings on foot that are disrupted during the rainy season. A specifi c set of farm roads has been identifi ed and will have development operations devoted to it.

A SECONDARY ROUTE : � e Ennery/� omassique diagonal

The Ennery/Thomassique diagonal provides direct access to the Dominican Republic and is a key farm-to-market route for the farmlands of the Central Plateau. It may be considered a secondary route and treated as such. The same holds for the access roads to Boucan-Carré and Saut-d’Eau.

� e Backbone Network: Routing of the loop

The key role played by the loop itself in structuring the territory justifi es integrating it as a whole within the backbone network.

Highway 7 m wide, equipped with ditches, bridges/culverts and pedestrian and animal walkways on both sides, only one side or neither side, depending on whether it is on a plateau, a plain or the side of a mountain

Highway 6 m wide, equipped with ditches and bridges/culverts

Highway 5.5 m wide, equipped with ditches and bridges/culverts

centers and provides links between the national highways. Most of this network is unpaved. - the tertiary network, comprised of local access roads that play a key economic and social role, especially for agriculture. This network is comprised of unpaved roads and has almost no bridges or culverts. The three types of road networks have been defi ned within the Center-Artibonite loop and each will receive improvements specifi c to its category.

Priority-ranked roads that are reliable and suited to urban conditions and to the movement of agricultural products constitute a network that is favorable to social and economic development


ACTIONS BEING IMPLEMENTED/ACTIONS TO BE UNDERTAKEN

ENNERY

FORT LIBERTE

GONAÏVES

PONT SONDE

LIANCOURT

DESDUNES

SAINT MARC

L’ESTERE

SAINTRAPHAEL

DONDON

MARMELADE

CAP HAÏTIEN

LIMBE

MIREBALAIS

SAUT D’EAU

LASCAHOBAS BELLADERE

ELIASPINA

THOMASSIQUE

OUANAMINTHE

HINCHEMAISSADE

PIGNON

THOMONDE

LA CHAPELLE

BOUCAN CARRE

DESARMES

VERRETTES

FER

FED 2014

FED 2011

FED 2010

AFD 2013

FED 2013

BANQUE MONDIALE

MARCHANDDESSALINES

road in works

road has to renew

road has to finance

road in project

realized road

0 10 20km

The Center-Artibonite loop is 240 km in length. A number of highway projects undertaken in recent years lead us to believe that the loop could become a reality quite quickly.

The current status of the Port-au-Prince/Cap-Haïtien corridor via Hinche (RN3) is as follows:- The segment between Port-au-Prince and Mirebalais is already in service;- The Mirebalais / Hinche / Pignon / Saint-Raphael segment will be a new highway with a width of 9 m;- The Saint-Raphael / Cap-Haïtien segment will also be completed in 2013 and will include a detour to avoid passing through the area of the Citadelle / Sans-Souci / Ramiers Historic National Park, classifi ed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.The work undertaken on this route will provide a tremendous improvement in the primary network by 2013.To the east, the road from Mirebalais to Belladère and the Dominican Republic will be constructed in 2013.On the East/West axis, the existing highway between Mirebalais and Pont Sondé is of satisfactory quality but requires periodic upkeep.

In contrast, in the north and west of the Central Plateau, the segment of the loop that connects Saint-Raphaël, Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye, Marchand-Dessalines and Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite is currently unpaved and has few bridges/culverts.

On the secondary network, construction work between Marchand-Dessalines and l’Estère is under way and will be completed in 2011. The road between Saut d’Eau and Cabaret is nearly fi nished, except for a few bridges/culverts.

Lastly, among the links planned for the highway network, some are currently in very poor condition: the road from Saint-Michel to Ennery, which continues on as NH1 to Gonaïves, is a mere dirt road with numerous fords. The same holds for the Hinche / Thomassique / Pedro Santana and Pignon / Ouanaminthe routes.

Completing the loop and the backbone network

Classifying the loop as a primary network has a limited effect in terms of fi nancing since, given the new work already scheduled, only 80 km (one-third of the loop) still need to be funded. This is the segment linking Saint-Raphael to Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite, by way of Saint-Michel and Marchand-Dessalines. This schedule of works will include a major structure for crossing the Artibonite river at Petite Rivière and connecting up to the Pont Sondé -Mirebalais road.The investment required for the missing segments is estimated to be US$74.5 million.

Linking the loop to nearby cities and to the Dominican Republic

Those projects still to be developed concern upgrading the links to the east (Hinche-Pedro Santana, estimated to cost US$26 million, and Pignon-Ouanaminthe, estimated at US$44 million), as well as the junction between Hinche – Maïssade – Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye (US$30 million), which plays a fundamental role for the area located inside the loop.

Improving the network of farm roads

Proposing a network of 800 km of farm roads in good condition may seem rather ambitious given current conditions. However, in light of the goal set for economic development and the population distribution throughout the area, this objective does not seem to be overblown. Many farm roads are currently in poor condition and river crossings that are unusable after heavy rains frequently cut off most of these roads during the rainy season.Deployment of this network will involve substantial construction work over approximately 520 km of dirt roads and upgrading of 280 km already identifi ed in the classifi cation of the MTPTC [Ministry of Public Works]. The cost of this work on the secondary network can be estimated as US$360 million.

1/ The backbone network of the Center-Artibonite loop

Section Distance Funding Commissioning

Mirebalais / Thomonde 35.3 km European Development Fund (FED) 2011Thomonde / Hinche 20.6 km European Development Fund (FED) 2011

Hinche / Pignon 29.5 km Agence Française de Développement 2013

Pignon / Saint-Raphaël 16.0 km Agence Française de Développement 2013Saint-Raphaël / Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye 21.6 km US$15,300,000 financing needed

Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye / Marchand-Dessalines 38.9 km US$38,000,000 financing needed

Marchand-Dessalines / Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite

20.2 km US$21,000,000 financing needed

Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite / Désarmes 21.6 km Fonds d’Entretien Routier [Highway Maintenance Fund]

Désarmes / La Chapelle 13.5 km Fonds d’Entretien Routier [Highway Maintenance Fund]

La Chapelle / Mirebalais 27.6 km Fonds d’Entretien Routier [Highway Maintenance Fund]

TOTAL 244.8 km US$74,500,000 financing needed

Pg/17

2/ Linking the loop to nearby cities and to the Dominican Republic

Junction Distance Funding CommissioningMirebalais / Dominican Republic via Lascahobas

22.8 km42.0 km

Centre National de l'Equipement European Development Fund (FED)

20132014

Saint-Raphaël / Cap Haïtien via Barrière Batant

30.2 km16.6 km

European Development Fund (FED)/World Bank

2013

Mirebalais / Port-au-Prince 60.9 km European Development Fund (FED) 2010

Marchand-Dessalines / L’Estère 12.0 km Agence Française de Développement 2011

Saut-d’Eau / Cabaret 32.5 km Centre National de l'Equipement 2010

Hinche / Dominican Republic via Thomassique

25.7 km16.0 km

US$25,900,000 financing needed

Pignon / Ouanaminthe via La Victoire, Mont Organisé and Baptiste

9.9 km43.0 km 18.1 km

US$44,000,000 financing needed

Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye / Ennery 25.9 km Financing needed



Section Distance Funding Commissioning

1/ The backbone network of the Center-Artibonite loop

2/ Linking the loop to nearby cities and to the Dominican Republic


MANAGEMENT AND FINANCING OF ROADS

Highway maintenance, a nationwide problem

In Haiti, the effects of tropical rainfalls are aggravated by steep slopes and deforestation. Runoff causes various types of erosion, which weaken the infrastructure, not to mention the risk of destruction of highways and dirt roads due to the substantial increase in river fl ows. In addition, the lack of bridges/culverts makes travel highly unpredictable during the rainy season.

For these reasons, the road system is generally in poor condition. This naturally has a negative effect on the quality of service, but also calls into question the value of continuing to build infrastructure with a very short lifespan in the absence of adequate maintenance.

Despite the establishment in 2003 of the Fonds d’Entretien Routier (FER) [Highway Maintenance Fund], a functioning plan for highway maintenance has never been implemented, and thus, ironically, the funding received is never fully used. We believe that the fi rst priority should be to set up on-going, preventive highway maintenance, whereas the normal practice at present consists of corrective maintenance and heavy repairs.The Center-Artibonite loop project cannot go forward without a truly effective system of road maintenance. In fact, beyond the construction of new segments, the quality of the entire road network depends on the proper upkeep of unpaved farm roads.

Roads, a basis for economic activity

A road, both in its construction and its maintenance, promotes job creation that normally benefi ts businesses already in existence.For this reason, but also because of the failure of public works departments set up in various countries, funding agencies prefer to invest in the private sector. In addition, working through businesses serves to clarify the roles of contracting authority, general contracting and execution of the work. Lastly, an effi cient private sector allows for greater fl exibility of assistance operations.

However, the current situation in Haiti is characterized by a lack of qualifi ed public works companies. There are few companies on a national scale and there are several dozen small to medium-size companies that provide upkeep or reconditioning. The latter are however poorly managed. Lastly, in terms of manual labor, there are micro-businesses that work with a limited number of employees with little training and very little equipment.

In the present context of Haiti, a realistic system for road maintenance has thus to be designed. Road maintenance tasks can be broken down into two categories:- roadbed work, a very manual-labor intensive activity that requires little equipment and basically involves the areas adjacent to and supporting the road: shoulders, drainage ditches and structures, banks, etc.- work that requires mechanical means (leveling surfaces, fi lling in pot-holes and cracks, etc.)

These tasks may be performed by various types of agents:- roadbed work may be done by public works departments, or by community-based organizations (CBO), or by small businesses in conjunction with the CASECs [local government] and town administrations.- since it requires equipment, periodic maintenance may be done by public works departments (via maintenance centers and a fl eet of machinery) or by businesses in conjunction with the town administrations;- major repairs are entrusted to large highway companies in conjunction with the MTPTC.

For work involving high labor intensive tasks (HIMO), such as roadbed work, the Community Based Organizations constitute a credible alternative. These associations of communities along the roads can take on common maintenance tasks and are easy to mobilize in Haiti since this HIMO aspect creates jobs and provides income for those who live nearby.

In addition, by involving neighbors in work for the public good, they learn to be accountable for problems related to the maintenance and use of the roads. However, recourse to the CBOs must not mean a trade-off in terms of the quality of service. A minimum of training and stability of the teams is necessary.For work requiring machinery, the lack of a well managed private sector raises the question of keeping a certain amount of resources in the hands of the government or regional administrations.

Given the unpredictable weather conditions, this option may also prove useful for early repair of damage due to unforeseeable causes, or for emergency work. For this sort of system to be effective, there must be a minimum amount of equipment on hand in maintenance centers distributed along the loop. It is certainly not desirable to design this system to maintain the entire network (backbone, secondary and tertiary), and the intended goal is to provide at least a minimum level of service.

The equipment for these centers could serve to provide periodic maintenance for 200 km of roads (loader, grader, compactor, trucks).

Along these lines, and considering the density of the system of roads (paved or unpaved surfaces), one

could conceive of setting up 5 maintenance centers at Mirebalais, Hinche, Saint Raphael, Saint Michel de l’Attalaye and Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite.

! e emergence of a true public works private sector

It would be helpful to have a network of companies emerge in Haiti that would reinforce the capacity for building and maintaining the system of roads. To achieve this, a number of conditions must be met:- the companies must be able to plan their business ahead over several years for the purposes of investment and hiring. This need for forecasting requires that government contracting authorities establish a reliable schedule for new work and maintenance work.

- the business of public works depends on a certain fi nancial stability, whether for purchasing or renting equipment, or for obtaining the fi nancial backing demanded by the contracting authority. The banking sector thus has a major role to play in the development of this sector.

- lastly, it is essential that a training system be included if one wants to set up a sector that is truly well managed. This aspect is critical in order to ensure that new work is of high quality and maintenance work on the road network is effi cient. It should be noted that part of the personnel training could be provided at the actual worksites.

Investment in highway maintenance ensures sustainability of investments

In order to ensure that investments are sustainable, it is important to include maintenance costs in their planning.

The «National Plan for Highway Maintenance» document, produced by the MTPTC in 2008, sets the annual maintenance cost for 1 km of highway at US$7,500 - 10,000.

On this basis, annual maintenance for the backbone network of the Center-Artibonite region can be estimated as US$1.9 million, and for the secondary network as US$7.5 million for 800 km of farm roads.

In rebuilding Haiti, roads are an inherent economic sector and not an isolated intervention from outside.

21THE LAND20 CIAT - HAÏTI TOMORROW - THE CENTER-ARTIBONITE LOOP

THE LAND2.

� e land in the loop is above all a series of farmlands with di� erent agricultural production systems, all characterized by their low pro� tability.

� e primary-growth forest, dominated by pines, disappeared some � fty years ago, as did co� ee farming, which now is almost extinct on lands once famous for their quality, especially in the Matheux mountain range.

Transformation of this agricultural landscape will involve modernizing agricultural methods, adding value to agricultural products and the creation of a non-agricultural sector of the economy.


Natural heritage and noteworthy sites

The Artibonite’s watershed offers a wide diversity of landscapes and environments: from the Central Plateau to the Artibonite river valley, from the hills to the plains, from savannas to rice paddies. Some natural sites are especially spectacular and deserve to be protected, improved and upgraded: the Bassin Zim in Hinche, the Laurent basin in Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye, the Saut d’Eau waterfall, and the surroundings of Lake Péligre, etc.

Historical Heritage

The loop straddles two areas with noticeably different pasts: in the West, the Artibonite province was once part of the French colony of Saint Domingue, while the eastern part, in the Center province, was a Spanish colony and became Haitian territory at the start of the 19th century. The great battles leading to Haiti’s independence took place in the west and northern parts of the loop, at sites such as Ravine à Couleuvre (February 1802), Crête à Pierrot (March 1802), Vertière (November 1803). Following independence, forts were built so that the young Haitian nation could fend off foreign invasions.

This practice left major traces at Milot/Dondon (Citadelle Henry, the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in Haiti), as well as the forts at Saint-Marc, Bayonnais, Marchand Dessalines and those in the Matheux mountain range. Moreover, it was in Gonaïves that independence was proclaimed on 1st January 1804. The eastern part of the loop offers more recent structures as attractions: the urbanization of Belladère (1948-1950) and the Péligre dam (1956).

The Palace with 365 Doors in Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite deserves to be renovated and could house a media center and exhibits.

Cultural Heritage

The loop is a rich religious area where the sanctuaries of Souvenance (Gonaïves) and Soucri (Pont Sondé) are emblematic of the grand «lacous» of the Artibonite valley and every year draw a considerable crowd.

Likewise, the Notre Dame du Mont Carmel celebration in Saut d’Eau (July 16th) and the celebration of Saint-Jacques in Plaine du Nord (July 25th) have given rise to a pilgrimage that leaves from Ti Tanyen to fi nish in Plaine du Nord: it is frequented by hougans, mambos and

hounsis from all over the country. Part of the natural heritage (Bassin Zim) and the historical heritage (Citadelle Henry) have undergone a religious reinterpretation and been the object of rather intense rituals.

Lodging capacity (bed and breakfasts, rural home stays, small hotels) must be created in the loop in order to attract a tourist clientele which still prefers the beaches - even if the highway system would allow tourists from the Arcadins Coast and those who pass through the Labadie cruise-ship stopover to add a cultural dimension to their stay.

ENNERY

FORT LIBERTE

GONAÏVES

PONT SONDE

LIANCOURT

DESDUNES

SAINT MARC

L’ESTERE

SAINTRAPHAEL

DONDON

CAP HAÏTIEN

LIMBE


MIREBALAISSAUT D’EAULASCAHOBAS

BELLADERE

ELIASPINA

THOMASSIQUE

OUANAMINTHE

HINCHEMAISSADE

PIGNON

THOMONDE

LA CHAPELLE

BOUCAN CARRE

DESARMES

VERRETTES

MARCHANDDESSALINES


SOUVENANCE

SOUKRI

PLACE DEL’INDÉPENDANCE

CRÊTE À PIERROT

FORT DÉCIDÉ

FORT DES BAYONNAIS

PALAIS DES 365 PORTES

VILLE MODERNE (1948)

FORT

FORT

FORT

COTE DES ARCADINS

BASSIN LAURENT

BASSIN ZIM

LAC DE PELIGRE

CASCADE DE SAUT D’EAU

PARC NATIONAL HISTORIQUE DE LA CITADELLE

MONTAGNES NOIRES

CAFÉIÈRE DE DION

MASSIF DU NORD

CORDILLERECENTRALE

0 10 20km

AN EMBLEMATIC REGION

Historic sites

The Loop

Natural sites

Religious sites

Bassin Zim Waterfall The Palace with 365 doors Entrance to the Citadelle Henry

Celebration Mont-Carmel, Saut D’eau

� e scene of struggles for independence and nation-building, the Center and the Artibonite are host to natural heritage, historic and cultural sites that support tourism, thus supplementing development on the coast.

NATURAL HERITAGE


VULNERABILITY OF THE ENVIRONMENT

MIREBALAIS

HINCHE

MAISSADE

PIGNON

THOMONDE

BOUCAN CARRE

MARCHANDDESSALINES

FORT LIBERTE

CAP HAÏTIEN

0 10 20km

Mountains stripped of vegetation

At the center of the loop, in the Montagnes Noires, is the drainage dividing line which separates the loop into two watersheds: that of the Estère on one side, and that of the Artibonite on the other. The southern watersheds of the Montagnes Noires and the Matheux range are dry and colonized by cactus and bayahondes. The northern watershed is wetter, has more inhabitants and is used for growing a variety of food products.

Knowing that these spaces are almost totally deforested, that they are used for grazing nearly all year round and that even charcoal is still produced there from wood, one begins to understand the various types of erosion that threaten both the future of these mountain inhabitants and the fertile irrigated plains downstream. It is these abusive practices that create a mortal danger for the densely-populated cities located downstream.

Making actions in the loop sustainable

So-called Soil Protection and Restoration actions have so far had little effect in Haiti. By proposing a new approach to accompany the creation of a new economy, one can achieve better water management in the loop.

We propose:- preserving the dry forest of the windward watersheds in the loop;- systematic protection, from upstream to downstream, of all the ravines in the hydrographic system [see photos];- the systematic building of water catchment structures along roads, drainage courses and farm paths

Forum des 17 et 18 juin 2010 à Port au Prince18 juin 2010

Forum des 17 et 18 juin 2010 à Port au PrincePrince

Photo credit : SOS Enfants sans Frontières and Zanmi Lasanté Paris

Photo credit : SOS Enfants sans Frontières and Zanmi Lasanté Paris

LA CHAPELLE

Watershed of the Artibonite and the Central Plateau

Watershed of the Estère

BASSIN DE L’ARTIBONITE / PLATEAU CENTRAL

BASSIN DE L’ESTÈRE

Work on the watersheds is an essential operation in the environmental restoration of the country. It is an end in itself and, in the case of the Centre-Artibonite loop, an activity with the scope of a global project.

Construction of a gabion retaining wall in Boucan Richard, Gros-Morne - Photo credit: SOS Enfants sans Frontières and Zanmi Lasanté Paris

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Primary treatment area for the watersheds

BASSIN DE LA QUINTEBASSIN DE LA GRANDE RIVIÈRE DU NORD

VERRETTES


DESARMES


SAINTRAPHAEL

WATERSHEDS


A DISPERSED RURAL HABITAT GATHERING POINTS URBAN CONSTELLATIONS: THE HAMLETS

A METROPOLITAN NETWORK: THE CENTER-ARTIBONITE LOOP

LAND USE

The Haitian hinterland is dominated by a minifundium (tiny peasant parcels of land) which, due to the rule of equal inheritance, have endlessly shrunk over the generations. The habitat has followed the breaking up of lots, creating clouds of points of habitation that follow simple patterns: fl oodplain-reclaimed sites, proximity to a water supply point, etc.

Agricultural production in this countryside is thus frequently characterized by hedge-bordered plots with tree crops around the houses.

Over time, and due to demographic growth, centers of activity have sprung up in the common areas (military outpost, church or chapel, road, mill, market, school, etc.), leading to thickly-settled zones that the IHSI [Haitian Statistical Institute] has dubbed «localities» and which are not taken into account in government land use planning.

This is the fi rst level for the exchange of agricultural products and for land use transformation.

The hamlets and towns, municipal seats, were constituted before or after independence. They are gathering points for people coming in from the countryside in search of services, chief among which are schools, water and electricity. This is the ideal place for business and trade, with local products tending to be supplanted everywhere by imports: wheat fl our, imported rice, second-hand textiles, etc.Their demographic importance has grown over the years, even if the loop has not experienced the astounding increase in urbanization seen in the western part of the country.

It is these towns and hamlets that make up the stages of more or less organized trade circuits that shape the system of commerce, trade and services for a so-called «urbanized» population that accounts for 32.5% in the Artibonite and 16.3% in the Center.These towns and villages are the starting points for movements to other regions and the capital.

As in most of the other regions of the county, the Center-Artibonite loop is characterized by a dispersed rural habitat, a linear habitat along the roads and settlements with an urban character.Based on this fragmented physical and social reality, the project proposes to build the links needed to facilitate daily activities and promote modernization of the countryside.


ORGANIZATION OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION

SAINTRAPHAEL

MIREBALAIS

HINCHEMAISSADE

PIGNON

THOMONDE

LE CHAPELLE

BOUCAN CARRE

DESARMES

SAINT MARC

GONAIVES

MARCHANDDESSALINES

FARM ROADS

This territory could well be described as a zone split at the center by a mountain range that leads from Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye to Thomonde/Boucan Carré - the Montagnes Noires, with an open plain to the sea in the west, the Artibonite valley, and the Central Plateau in the east. This geography results in three major types of agricultural systems:

- A system dominated by rice growing and commercial vegetable farming, from Marchand-Dessalines and Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite up to Mirebalais;

- A system dominated by sugar cane and rainfed crops such as sorghum, cassava and pigeon peas;- A multi-crop hillside staple crop system dominated by tubers (sweet potatoes) and corn or sorghum.

Bananas thrive everywhere, in irrigated zones as well as in the more humid depressions of the Central Plateau and the Montagnes Noires.

This form of agriculture, practiced on small plots, with very little mechanization (some farming with draught animals around Hinche), and only rarely using chemical inputs (nitrogen fertilizers in the Artibonite valley), has benefi ted from a number of rather curious production niches: lime and bitter oranges to the south of Saint-Raphael for the Lapostole (Cointreau) company, and vetiver between Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye and Maïssade (essential oils).

A system of agriculture undergoing change

New opportunities offered by agriculture in the part of the loop located on the Central Plateau would seem to be the Francis mango, purchased by exporters in Port-au-Prince, as well as tamarind, pigeon peas and avocados, which go off to Dominican markets.

Sugar cane, which has existed for several centuries on the plateau, seems to be enjoying a new heyday with the multiplication of sugar mills and processing units that produce coarse sugar (rapadou), cane syrup (for the local distilleries on the Plateau and the Léogane plain) and clairin (local alcohol). The municipalities of Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye and Pignon are located at the center of this area of sugar-cane based production.

Deterioration of the irrigation system in the Artibonite valley and of the structures for water management, as well as the competition from rice imported from the U.S., have tended to reduce the area devoted to rice in favor of vegetable crops that still fi nd a profi table market: eggplant, shallots and tomatoes.

Pathways to intensi! ed use and modernization

Modernizing the system of agriculture will involve the following focal points:

- Exploration of possible means of irrigation by pumping (hydraulic rams, bucket conveyors) drawing from the deeply embedded rivers in the Central Plateau;

- Expansion of fruit plantations of mangos, avocados, assorted fruits (tamarind, guava), improvement of conditions for transportation and the creation of sorting, packing and/or processing centers;

- Improvement of sugar cane processing plants (use of bagasse, enhanced energy effi ciency, introduction of new boilers to replace colonial-era ones, etc.);

- Assistance for farming with animal traction (plows, carts);

- Assistance in improving animal husbandry (making use of the Artibonite’s abundant by-products suitable for animal feed);

- The creation of distilleries to produce rum or pharmaceutical alcohol;

- Upgrading of the Pignon technology center (manufacture/repair of mills, manufacture/repair of vats, etc.);

- Assistance in the creation, upkeep or modernization of rice processing plants;

- The main loop and the farm roads cross a very large number of ravines. Each crossing is a potential spot for storing major quantities of water to be used to multiply the added value of farmland located downstream by a factor of 50! These structures will be designed to withstand temporary fl ooding.

0 10 20km

DESDUNES

L’ESTERE

MANGUE AVOCATS FRUITIERS

ELEVAGE

POLYCULTUREVIVRIERE

CAFE

CAFE

CAFE

CACAO

CULTURES MARAICHERESAGRUMES

CANNE A SUCRE

RIZ

AGRICULTURAL ZONES AND GATHERING POINTS

ENNERY

FORT LIBERTE

GONAÏVES

PONT SONDE

LIANCOURTSAINT MARC

SAINTRAPHAEL

DONDONMARMELADE

CAP HAÏTIEN

LIMBE

MIREBALAIS


BELLADERE

ELIASPINA

THOMASSIQUE

OUANAMINTHE

HINCHEMAISSADE

PIGNON

THOMONDE

LA CHAPELLE

BOUCAN CARRE

DESARMES

VERRETTES

MARCHANDDESSALINES





0 10 20km

Urban focal point andMain marketplaces

Main gathering points

Irrigated agriculture

A set of productive agricultural systems have historically generated the wealth of the country.It is this multi-faceted land that could be more intensely used and modernized by the project.

CAFE

FOURRAGE


In Haiti, water is simultaneously an opportunity, a weakness and a threat. The country has ample rainfall (1400 m on average) but only 10% of rainwater runoff is used (90% in irrigation, 10% for domestic use).

The largest irrigation basin is the Artibonite region, with approximately 25,000 ha. Within the loop, water used for human needs is basically very vulnerable surface water. The road development project will entail creating a multitude of crossing structures that can provide for storage, fl ood-control and energy needs.

Regulation and irrigationThe Artibonite watershed (9,500 km2 in total, 6,800 in Haiti and 2,700 in the Dominican Republic) plays a critical role in the water cycle on the island of Hispaniola. With an average 2,000 mm of annual rainfall on the ridgetops, 1,800 mm of rainfall on the upper basin and 1,500 mm downstream from Péligre, the supply of water is abundant and constantly renewed.

The Artibonite is the largest river in Haiti and has an average annual fl ow estimated to be between 85 and 101 m3/sec at Péligre.

However, abundant rainfall and violent storms, coupled with poor ground cover (only traces remain of the pine forests that covered the banks of the Artibonite until the early 20th century) cause runoff and erosion and lead to episodes of high-water and fl ooding, especially in the lower Artibonite valley.

Retaining water upstreamIn order to reduce high-water phenomena at the upstream stage, the water should be retained as far upstream as possible: deployment of small irrigated areas (SIA), construction of infi ltration areas, of masonry micro-catch basins and cisterns near residences, building of micro-dams in the ravines, construction of hillside lakes. These containment points will also help regulate the supply of water and improve access to it. They will serve to increase irrigation and thus enhance agricultural production.

Vertical extension of the Péligre damOriginally built to serve as a water reservoir and to facilitate the irrigation of downstream land, the Péligre Dam has had its capacity severely reduced in recent years due to gradual sedimentation of the lake. Vertically extending the dam by 3 m would renew its storage capacity.

Developing hillside reservoirs and irrigation on the Central PlateauThe hillside water storage tanks built beginning in the 1970’s on the Central Plateau allowed the cultivation of adjacent land for vegetable farming in the dry season and improved the living conditions of peasants located nearby. Assistance must be provided for community management of these facilities.

Renovation work on farm roads and modernization of the Saint-Raphaël – Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye – Marchand Dessalines road might be a good opportunity for such water retention projects, taking advantage of the presence of earthmoving machines required to properly shape the dikes according to best practices, which would be a useful complement to road-building.

Maintaining and enhancing irrigation systemsThe irrigation canals of the Lower Artibonite require regular maintenance. The human and material resources for this maintenance must be found together with the relevant institutional authorities (ODVA, Ministry of Agriculture).

Other irrigation systems could be developed to expand the land area under irrigation and increase agricultural yields.

Upgrading and expanding city water systemsIn order to improve access to drinking water and meet public health challenges, the National Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DINEPA) has included in its priorities ten water and sanitation projects in towns within the loop: Mirebalais, Thomonde, Hinche, Pignon, Saint Raphaël, Saint Michel, Marchand Dessalines, Petite Rivière, Verrettes, La Chapelle. These projects are intended to make existing systems more secure and expand them.

Actions taken in terms of solid waste management will also help improve water quality.

Meeting the needs of rural areasIn addition to the projects for drinking water and sanitation systems in the cities, DINEPA has addressed the problem of access to drinking water and sanitation in rural areas. The province of the Artibonite was selected for conducting a pilot project.

Access to drinking water in rural areas

IRRIGATION AND DRINKING WATER

Irrigation canals of the Lower Artibonite

The Péligre reservoir lake Hillside lake at Pandiassou

Water: a source of wealth or a threat to physical structures and public health. An essential prerequisite for development is management of all the stages of irrigation and the distribution of drinking water.


ENNERY

FORT LIBERTE

GONAÏVES

LIANCOURT

DESDUNES

SAINT MARC

L’ESTERE

DONDON

CAP HAÏTIEN

LIMBE

SAUT D’EAU

LASCAHOBAS

ELIASPINA

THOMASSIQUE

OUANAMINTHE

HINCHEMAISSADE

PIGNON

THOMONDE

LE CHAPELLE

DESARMES

VERRETTES

MARCHANDDESSALINES

MARMELADE

23KV

23KV

115KV

PAP

2 MW

2 MW

2,5 MW

15MW

DROUET

0,6MW

32MW

PELIGRE

ARTIBONITE 4C

ONDE VERTE15MW

15MW

Hydro-electric power

System planned

ELECTRIC POWER GRID

Thermal-electric power

System to be built

PROJECTED PRODUCTION LEVELS

DISTRIBUTION13,8KV

23KV

13,8KV

SAINTRAPHAEL

BELLADERE

BOUCAN CARRE

PONT SONDE

MIREBALAIS

At present, the following installations are found in the loop:- Péligre Dam (54MW rating but irregular during the dry season);- Micro generating plants at Onde Verte (0.6 MW), Drouet (0.5 MW operational of 2 MW rated) and Délugé (1.8 MW);- Thermal power plants at Gonaïves (15 MW) and Saint-Marc (2 MW);- Electric generators (Hinche, Pignon, Saint-Michel, etc.);- Private solar installations.

The energy plan for the loop would be broken down into three levels:- Upgrading of the primary system around the Péligre and Artibonite 4C dams;- Research on sustainable solutions for the secondary networks;- The creation of access points to electric power in every small community.

Exploiting the hydro-electric potential for the primary network

� e Central Plateau networkThe planned Artibonite 4C dam project has been envisioned since 1983. A 47m spillway would provide 32 MW of power. Placed on the grid with Péligre, the energy produced would be distributed essentially to PAP, but also locally: the primary grid would service Thomonde, Hinche, Thomassique (23kV line) and Boucan Carré (13.8kV tap-in). A branch line to Mirebalais and Lascahobas would also help preserve the production of the Onde Verte plant in Belladère. A total of 420,000 inhabitants, 20% of the population in the loop, would benefi t from the project.

Seeking sustainable solutions for the secondary networks

� e Lower Artibonite networkThe municipalities of the Lower Artibonite are connected to the grid comprised of the thermal plants at Gonaïves and Saint-Marc and the hydro-electric plants at Drouet and Délugé. A complete overhaul of the electrical and mechanical equipment of the plants at Drouet (only one of the four generators is currently operational), Délugé and Onde Verte would re-establish normal service for 76,000 consumers and would reduce the demand for fossil fuels.The installation of a generating plant at the dam that feeds into the Caneau irrigation canal merits study. The sharp drop-off is only 4 m in height, but an equipped

fl ow rate of 28 m3/s would supply 1 MW, a supplement suitable for 20,000 consumers.In-current turbines installed on the Artibonite upstream from Pont Sondé could provide 12 - 15 MW and reduce energy dependency.

� e Upper Artibonite networkThe plan to construct a thermal generating plant at Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye to benefi t the municipalities of St-Michel, St-Raphaël, Pignon, Dondon, Marmelade and Ennery could also be accompanied by a biomass fueled plant using bagasse and by exploiting the hydro-electric potential of neighboring rivers.Commercial development of the 25,000 ha of Savane Diane around an integrated agricultural-industrial-energy project would allow the development of an energy resource likely to meet the needs of agricultural processing plants and local populations.

Using renewable energy to supply rural community and agro-industrial plants

Micro hydro-electric generating plantsThe Center-Artibonite loop crosses a number of sites that could lend themselves to the construction of micro dams to produce cheap electricity for “local” use. The failure of micro plants built in the 1980’s, largely due to a lack of maintenance, should not lead us to give up on this method. More moderate scale hydro-electric projects that are nevertheless of non-negligible utility for local use have been identifi ed since 1980 but their power potential still needs to be defi ned.

- Voûte à Minguet on the Bouyaha, - Granan on the Guape,- Roche Rameau on the Platana,- Bassin Laurent on the Attalaye.With a production of 1-2 MW per plant, these projects could benefi t 120,000 people.

Solar energyFor municipal areas distant from the primary grid, solar energy offers a means of access to electric power. Existing “community centers” could aspire to energy autonomy using 28 photovoltaic roof panels and an electric generator as a back-up. Solar-powered street lights and charging stations for cell phones could provide inputs in the core areas of municipalities and at the intersections of farm roads. These would constitute places for socializing and the fi rst tier for consolidating and providing access to services.

ENERGY PRODUCTION AND SUPPLY

RESEAU HAUTARTIBONITE

RESEAU BASARTIBONITE

RESEAU PLATEAU CENTRAL

0 10 20km

54MW

Péligre dam Photovoltaic lighting on the Central Plateau



1,8MW

DELUGE

Access to energy is the second prerequisite for development. � e loop has great potential, but the question now is how to set priorities and establish all of the means of production suitable for each local situation.


MODERNIZING AGRICULTURE AND DEVELOPING PROCESSING INDUSTRIES

Port

Sectors for economic development

Airport

ENNERY

FORT LIBERTE

GONAÏVES

PONT SONDE

LIANCOURT

DESDUNES

SAINT MARC

L’ESTERE

SAINTRAPHAEL

DONDON

CAP HAÏTIEN

LIMBE


LASCAHOBASBELLADERE

ELIASPINA

THOMASSIQUE

OUANAMINTHE

HINCHE

MAISSADE

PIGNON

THOMONDE

LE CHAPELLE

BOUCAN CARRE

DESARMES

MARCHANDDESSALINES

Job creation is a top priority. This means going beyond a short-term response consisting of recourse to HIMO activities, and the Center-Artibonite regional development project must create the material conditions for economic development via transportation infrastructure and by making land available for businesses.

Economic development of this region will draw fi rst on its current resources, meaning enhanced agricultural production. Existing roads, or those under construction, leading to Haiti’s three largest cities, which are also its main ports, are also a major starting point. Saint-Marc particularly is a natural access point to the sea for the

0 10 20km

Job creation - an absolute necessity for stabilizing population movements

region and for which various projects are under study. Lastly, the potential for business and trade with the Dominican Republic, which is still greatly under-used at present, could come to light through improvement of the interconnecting roads.

! e main priority: e" ective distribution and use of agricultural products

The existence of quality infrastructure is a prerequisite if development goals are to become a reality, but is not by itself suffi cient: an effective road system is only a tool that serves to increase economic potential, providing that the bases are healthy.

Thus, for the Center-Artibonite loop, along with the question of infrastructure is that of revenue from agricultural production. At an initial stage, without waiting for improvement in the conditions of transportation, it is already possible to reduce the percentage of losses in agricultural products by better packaging starting right in the area of cultivation. As an illustration, the current rate of loss for mangos, estimated at 50%, is huge and the gain one can expect from better packaging is far greater than its cost. Maintenance on existing irrigation systems and the creation of new ones are also critical to enhance profi tability.

This modernization of the agricultural sector cannot be conceived of without farmers having access to cheap credit that will provide access to tools and fertilizers and compensate for the destructive effects of opening the Haitian market to agricultural products from abroad.

Creating attractive conditions for businesses

Other means of modernization can be deployed: the introduction of scales in the local markets, a system for collecting statistical data on volumes produced, etc. A land-use policy that encourages consolidating farm plots would make it easier to undertake certain agricultural operations.

Modernizing the agricultural system also means reducing the number of jobs in this sector. Economic development of the region will thus require the creation of other economic activities. To achieve that, the Center-Artibonite loop will have to meet other conditions:- land available for new businesses;- a qualifi ed labor force.We might also add the legal and fi nancial means favoring investment, such as the creation of duty-free zones.

In spatial terms, the Center-Artibonite region project describes the locations for economic activity zones in each of the cities on the loop. This way, more than 350 ha of economic activity zones could be created along the loop, thus permitting the deployment of businesses that would complete the chains of commercial exploitation of agricultural products. All of these zones together represent a potential of 70,000 - 80,000 jobs for processing or manufacturing industries.

If local administrations can set aside dedicated sites, combined with a suitable legal framework, this would do much to stimulate private investment. The cities on the loop will thus constitute a basis for economic initiatives that stimulate growth and create jobs.

However, even backed by strong political will, the conditions for implementation of duty-free zones are hard to defi ne in detail. Production in duty-free zones, in practice, corresponds to mature products with standardized production practices and they are subjected to intense competition that favors transfer to countries with lower labor costs. For Haiti and the Center-Artibonite region, by making use of the easements granted by the Hope legislation, one can foresee the development of manufacturing industries,focused mainly on clothing assembly and agri-business.

Furthering development

The creation of processing industries constitutes a fi rst step. The subsequent challenge will be to move toward greater added value by attracting sectors that use more advanced technology and low cost manpower (pharmaceutical products, electronic components), as well as service businesses.

The Center-Artibonite region should make better use of its direct links to the country’s major ports and to the Dominican Republic, and endow itself with the means to make use of labor that is available, competent and fl exible, both in sectors requiring few qualifi cations and others that are more technical. In and of itself, economic development may induce learning effects and growth in human capital, but these will need to be expanded through a program of vocational training.

Lastly, in terms of urban planning, the emergence of economic activity in the cities on the loop will affect the demand for housing close to where the jobs are located. As a result, migration of the population to the cities on the loop should be expected. Major investments must be made in developing and organizing the cities and hamlets of the loop. Once economic development is under way, the challenge for the region will be to maintain the urban/rural balance desirable for its system of networked cities.

VERRETTES



37THE PEOPLE36 CIAT - HAÏTI TOMORROW - THE CENTER-ARTIBONITE LOOP

THE PEOPLE3.

Creating a system of roads that constitutes the backbone of the Center-Artibonite loop is not an end in itself. � e main objective of the proposed road system is to build a planned urban environment. Once the land is improved and equipped, it could then give rise to a modern economy capable of supporting 2 million inhabitants.

� e loop o� ers a new balance between population density, lifestyles and economic realities.

� e cities can become a worthwhile alternative to a choice between major, dehumanized urban areas or a dispersed habitational pattern that keeps a destitute rural population far from services.� e loop will have to o� er city-seekers those services that are essential to their well-being and the infrastructure without which no economic planning can occur.


POPULATION DISTRIBUTION AND LAND OWNERSHIP

70 inhab/ha (20-130)

ENNERY

FORT LIBERTE

GONAÏVES

PONT SONDE

LIANCOURT

DESDUNES

SAINT MARC

L’ESTERE

SAINTRAPHAEL

DONDON

CAP HAÏTIEN

LIMBE



LASCAHOBASBELLADERE

ELIASPINA

THOMASSIQUE

OUANAMINTHE

HINCHEMAISSADE

PIGNON

THOMONDE

LA CHAPELLE

BOUCAN CARRE

DESARMES

VERRETTES

MARCHANDDESSALINES


1 - 2.5 inhab/ha

- 1 inhab / ha

2.5 - 5 inhab/ha

5 - 20 inhab/ha

MARMELADE

The Center-Artibonite loop currently has 1.2 million inhabitants. Approximately half of this population, 500,000 people, is concentrated in the portion of the loop located in the Artibonite province. Deteriorating conditions for agricultural production lead to a rural exodus by people seeking services, mainly schools. These population migrations (city populations will double in 20 years) result in the under-development of the towns and hamlets, where institution building is left up to private initiative and is not backed by the government, while the countryside is pock-marked by a dispersed settlement pattern that creates its own gathering points around markets and along roads. The agricultural zones are heavily populated (1.5 - 3 inhabitants/hectare) and the urban areas attain 70 inhabitants per hectare versus 110 -120 inhabitants in the coastal cities. The road from La Chapelle to Pont-Sondé constitutes a nearly continuous urbanized area with 30 - 50 inhabitants per hectare.

Attention must be given to both the agricultural population and to those that depart to cram themselves into these hamlets and towns on the loop without decent living conditions.

The Artibonite and the Central Plateau, which became part of Haitian territory at different points in time, nevertheless have shared features in terms of land ownership:- A dispersed rural settlement pattern that is largely explained by the fact that farmers build where they fi nd a certain security of land ownership, generally on family land or land purchased according to the whims of the real estate market;- A highly accentuated minifundium in the irrigated areas, which are thus more intensively used: aroundDessalines and Petite Rivière, on the left bank of the Artibonite, in the irrigated sector of Saint-Raphaël;- Larger plots in the Central Plateau, dominated by sugar cane farming and extensive cattle raising;- Small peasant plots in the mountains in the north and west of the loop.

These plots are often undivided family land, and successive generations have taken over without undertaking offi cial partitions. This family-based consolidation is the cause of the often violent confl icts which arose from the divvying up of the consolidations when the Artibonite became commercially valuable through irrigation in the fi rst half of the 19th century.

Government-owned land

There is much confusion concerning government owned lands Due to the more recent integration of the Center into the Haitian Republic, the land grants of the years 1810/1820 that form the basis of small peasant ownership in the rest of the country did not take place. More sporadic grants were made later on, while a private division of land arising from gradual agricultural takeover of these lands by Haitians and from real estate transactions with Spanish and then

Dominican landowners gave title to the property. One thus encounters large stretches of government owned land, even if they are not well known to the government itself and its dimensions can only be determined in the course of building a thorough knowledge of land ownership in this part of the loop.

In the Artibonite, confl icts arising from commercial use of the valley have forced the administration to intervene directly in land-use matters. It has also had to create “cases of exceptions” which, until the agrarian reform of 1996-1998, complicated the status of both users and owners due to requisitions, land-grabs and “placement under government control”. What is private property and what is government-owned continues to be confused today, and this confusion is the key cause of confl icts and poor administrative services in the Artibonite.

Removing obstacles to land ownership

Organizing a city structurally requires an ability to plan ahead - master plans, a thorough reconnaissance of land ownership - a survey and registry, and a way to free up land ownership in order to create development lots on viable land suitable for new residents. Land ownership operations are thus inseparable from urban planning where goals are explicitly defi ned and set out on a timeline. The creation of publicly owned lands reserved for the construction of community facilities, fi nancial assistance and building codes are all essential components of the modernization of the cities on the loop.

Likewise, our concept of a modernized agricultural system for the loop cannot be achieved without a land consolidation program whose main objective will be to create farms large enough to turn their operators into real businessmen with an effective bargaining capacity.A reform of the land taxation system is also needed in order to cover not only built-up land, as is presently the case, but also the ownership of bare land. Managing agricultural and urban land ownership assumes the existence of Land Use Surveys and of basic tools for land improvement, all of which need to be created under Haitian legislation.

Linear habitat along the road from Désarmes to La Chapelle

0 10 20km

tools for land improvement, all of which need to be created under Haitian legislation.

Land area in question Average density (inhabitants/ha)

Downtown area of major cities (outside the loop) (Saint-Marc, Gonaïves)

110 - 200

Downtown areas of provincial capitals (e.g., Mirebalais)

70 - 130

Downtown area of junction cities (e.g., Saint-Raphaël)

50 - 90

Peripheral urban neighborhoods (e.g., linear settlement patterns between Désarmes and La Chapelle)

30 - 50

Moderately settled agricultural zone (e.g., the rural zone of the Artibonite)

1.6 - 3

Thinly settled agricultural zone (e.g., the rural zone of the Center)

1 - 1.6

Current population: 1.2 million inhabitantsPredicted population: 2 million inhabitants

POPULATION DENSITY


ROADS WITH TWO SPEEDS

In Haiti, roads are where all types of social interaction take place. In the cities and towns, the shoulders of roads are appropriated by merchants moving on foot, and in the peripheral urban zones, the poor condition of the road surface serves to reduce traffi c speeds. Even in the case of asphalt roads, patterns of use fall back on those of dirt tracks rutted by travelers and by bad weather. Some more recent arteries are an exception to this rule, such as the links between PAP and Saint-Marc or PAP and Mirebalais. Under these conditions, higher travel speeds clearly increase the dangers and affect the relationship with traditional users of the roads.

In most cases, customary means of getting across cities have not followed new road construction. The routes through Cabaret or Saint-Marc, encumbered with markets, demonstrate this situation. The construction of a by-pass around Mirebalais is an attempt to deal with this problem. Whenever the geography so permits, by-passes of city centers should be built. This is also an opportunity to organize urban development zones and to set up trade and transport hubs that are well equipped and located along roadsides. Urban planning problems still do not deal, however, with the new factor of increased travel speeds introduced by the new networks.

The construction of a 7-meter wide asphalt strip on a 9-meter base presents two weaknesses:- First, it fails to deal with, or deals poorly with, water-management issues, which leads to rapid degradation of structures in vulnerable areas.

High-speed traffic lane

High-speed traffic lane

Slow traffic lane

Slow traffic lane

� e road as a social and economic reference in Haitian minds

- Second, it fails to take into account the social life established on both sides of the road, with a constant reminder being the “school children’s path”.

In other situations, broad stone bases fulfi ll every conceivable role related to social life and to traffi c. This is the case, for example, of the new road linking NH1 to Saut-d’Eau.

By combining two models, one could conceive of 7-meter asphalt lanes on broad bases (20-25 m), dealing simultaneously with three issues:

- The high-speed travel road (50 km/h), - Protection from water damage, - And a “slow lane”, intended for pedestrian, bicycle and mule traffi c.

This system need not be continuous and could be built based on each urban, suburban or rural confi guration. For each segment of roadway, preliminary siting studies should specifi cally take into account this “urban” problem.

This system opens the door to broader thinking about the communal structures that will determine the rhythms and organization of urban roadways. The trade and transport hubs and community living spaces will be the basic structures associated with the roads project, but will also be designed to be reference points for planning

In Haiti, roads are a common area for social interactions. Increased travel speeds will change this pattern and generate risks. Roads with two speeds are the urban planner’s response to this confrontation.


ENNERY

FORT LIBERTE

GONAÏVES

PONT SONDE

LIANCOURTSAINT MARC

L’ESTERE

SAINTRAPHAEL

DONDONMARMELADE

CAP HAÏTIEN

LIMBE

MIREBALAIS

LASCAHOBAS

ELIASPINA

THOMASSIQUE

OUANAMINTHE

HINCHE

PIGNON

BOUCAN CARRE

DESARMES

MARCHANDDESSALINES

Landfill center

Management sectors

Collection points

Center for training in waste management

The lack of hygiene is responsible for many diarrhetic illnesses, which constitute a primary cause of infant mortality in Haiti. Since cholera erupted in the country in October 2010, hygiene has moved to the core of public health concerns. The fact that the epidemic started in the heart of this very loop, in Grand Boucan (a municipality of Mirebalais) and in Grande Saline, sounds a warning. It is now imperative that there be a highly effective program in this sense, with the goal of having a latrine for every house. The problem of drinking water has also become an issue all along the Artibonite river.

The hygiene awareness campaign will be accompanied by the visible deployment of serious measures for managing solid waste and excrement.

The overall plan for solid waste management in the Center-Artibonite loop must nevertheless be:- Far-reaching, since it means creating a collective awareness in terms of the environment, human and animal health, and energy.- And realistic, so that the entire population can adopt these goals. It is critical that every inhabitant clearly understand the effect of the solid waste management program, and this showcase initially involves the notion of the cleanliness of a place used by everyone in a part of their community or city: the marketplace. This living space is the one to make shine so that everyone will seek to emulate such “cleanliness”.

Setting up a prioritized system of waste management to give everyone access to servicesThe operations of cleaning up, consolidating, collection, transportation and processing form the web that needs to be created and extended to the entire population in question, in stages and following a timeline to be defi ned.

The main fi bers of this web are the main and secondary roads of the Center-Artibonite loop. These links between the various geographic sectors are what will make management of household waste successful in each of these management sectors.

Clean-up and collection in town centers and markets as a ! rst priorityThe fi rst stage consists of setting up a Household Waste Management system in towns and cities in order to bring sanitation and collection services to the “urban” population groups.

The central collection point for solid waste will be the market, the gathering spot, place for conversation and location where organic products are consumed. Secondary collection points will be installed subsequently in other districts of the city and in other markets of the zone in question, based on the loading and movement

capabilities of the collection vehicles and the existence of connecting roads. The markets will be cleaned on a daily basis in order to consolidate solid waste and evacuate it, combining a “sanitation” approach and a “waste” input.

The second stage consists of extending the service to rural populations depending on available resources and feasible routes. Composting centers will be deployed near the points of social gathering in each communal sector of the loop. Inhabitants who bring organic waste there could receive compost in return.

Installation of a waste processing site in each geographic sector of the loopEach sector will be organized around a processing center, an operation that is effi cient and easy to grasp: storage facilities used to dispose of waste products. The link is symbolized by the stretch between the main or secondary consolidation point and the landfi ll site.

Four storage/processing units will thus be set up on the loop, one for each of the geographic areas defi ned around:- Mirebalais- Hinche- Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye- Petite-Rivière (site at Marin).

Organizing shipment between collection centers and processing centersShipment between consolidation points and storage/processing plants will depend on the interconnections by road. This factor calls for the installation not only of disposal points but also of loading points for each of the sectors and municipalities involved.The vehicles used to transport solid waste should also optimize the quantity transported in relation to their fuel consumption. These vehicles should also be suited to the road conditions.

Solid waste management for the Center-Artibonite loop will also form part of a national plan and constitute a key link therein.

It will also be a means of creating jobs at all levels (from laborers to landfi ll site managers), which will require the establishment of suitable vocational training courses.

This objective will entail substantial investment costs (in equipment, platforms, storage facilities, etc.) and operating costs (personnel, vehicle maintenance, site management, fuel consumption, etc.). It requires deploying a global chain of management and processing for solid waste and a sustainable means of funding.

HYGIENE AND WASTE

0 10 20km

DESDUNES

SAUT D’EAU

BELLADERE

MAISSADE

THOMONDE

LE CHAPELLE

Banks of the Artibonite River at Mirebalais Guayamouc River at Hinche Waste control awareness campaign


VERRETTES


ORGANIZING THE MANAGEMENT OF COMMON WASTE


ENNERYGONAÏVES

PONT SONDE

LIANCOURT

DESDUNES

SAINT MARC

L’ESTERE

SAINTRAPHAEL

DONDON


LASCAHOBASBELLADERE

ELIASPINA

THOMASSIQUE

OUANAMINTHE

HINCHE

MAISSADE

PIGNON

THOMONDE

LE CHAPELLE

BOUCAN CARRE

DESARMES

MARCHANDDESSALINES

HOPITAL LA PROVIDENCE

HOPITAL CLAIRE HEUREUSE

HOPITAL BIENFAISANCE

HOPITAL COMMUNAUTAIRE

HOPITAL Ste. THERESE

HOPITAL COMMUNAUTAIRE

HOPITAL CAL DE CANGE

HOPITAL St. NICOLAS HOPITAL ALBERT SCHWEITWER

Reinforcing the three levels of access to healthcare:

- Medical outposts located as close as possible to population groups, close to living spaces and gathering points (markets, community centers, etc.);

- Dispensaries and health centers in the various communal sectors;

- Hospitals deployed along the loop and accessible within a half-hour;

By buttressing existing structures, consolidating connecting links and promoting training for healthcare personnel.

Upgrading hospital facilities and connecting them in a network

The various hospital establishments present on the loop sThe various hospital establishments present on the loop should be upgraded and expanded in order to adjust to an extension of their area of service, along with improving their hosting capacity and the quality of care provided.

This high-quality system will be built around establishments that already exist:

- The community hospital in Mirebalais, currently the target of a university hospital development project which is under construction;- The hospital in Cange and the network of associated Zanmi Lasanté establishments;- The Sainte-Thérèse hospital in Hinche;- The Bienfaisance hospital in Pignon- The community hospital in Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye, to be upgraded to include surgical services;- The Claire Heureuse hospital in Marchand Dessalines;- The Albert Schweitzer hospital in Deschappelles.

Development of a network of dispensaries surrounding each main hospital

The networking of dispensaries and community health centers around the main hospitals should provide wider access to healthcare services and a more effective distribution of skills.

The Zanmi Lasanté system is an example to be expanded on and copied. The interconnection of dispensaries around a main hospital promotes exchanges of experience between dispensaries and medical personnel, improves the quality of care and offers opportunities for specialization.

Developing community-based medical outposts

The public health conditions of women are a cause for major concern. The rate of mortality in delivery (630 deaths for 100,000 births) and the rate of infant mortality (57 deaths before age 1 for every 1,000 children born) are still among the highest in the region. Bringing these rates down entails building locally accessible health clinics in all of the communal sectors.

These points of services and information could usefully be located near markets, where women tend to congregate in large numbers. These centers could be directed by chief midwives and nurses specialized in caring for pregnant women, in maternity care and in pediatrics. These people could be responsible for hygiene awareness campaigns and post-natal care, and could take in people with problems and offer them emergency care before referring them, as needed, to dispensaries or to the better-equipped hospitals.

Awareness, education and guidance, especially in terms of contraception, would constitute the missions of these centers set up for women and children and located as close as possible to rural communities.

Developing training for healthcare jobs

No healthcare system is sustainable without a solid set of training courses. This system must cover all healthcare jobs: midwives, assistants, nurses, doctors, specialists, lab technicians, radiologists, etc.

Initial training and in-service training must be developed simultaneously using the model of the university teaching hospitals.

The Bienfaisance hospital in Pignon is already equipped with operating rooms with videoconference connections to amphitheatres and could be given further assistance in its university teaching missions.The hospital under construction in Mirebalais will also constitute a key training center for the region.

In-service training should be established in such a way that it takes advantage of the networking of the medical outposts, dispensaries and hospitals. Every healthcare employee should thus be able to receive one week of training per semester.

HEALTHCARE NETWORKS

0 10 20km

HOSPITAL COVERAGE

Bienfaisance Hospital in Pignon Sainte-Thérèse Hospital in Hinche


VERRETTES


project

existing

Access to healthcare and organizing prevention are a key problem in fragmented areas. � ree levels of facilities will be required to meet the public’s needs.


EFACAP

UPAG

PRO

UNAP

UPAG

EFACAP

EFACAP

EFACAP

EFACAP

EFACAP

UNI

UNI PRO

PRO

PRO

UNAP

BASIC EDUCATION LEVEL

HIGHER EDUCATION

Network of linked schools and distance-learning classes

Independent university

Basic-Level Teacher Training School and Educational Support Centerd’Appui Pédagogique

Public university

Vocational trainingUniversity project

Basic-Level Teacher Training School and Educational Support Center

EFACAP

ENNERY

GONAÏVES

PONT SONDE

LIANCOURT

DESDUNES

SAINT MARC

L’ESTERE

SAINTRAPHAEL

DONDON

MIREBALAIS

SAUT D’EAU

LASCAHOBAS

BELLADERE

ELIASPINA

THOMASSIQUE

OUANAMINTHE

HINCHEMAISSADE

PIGNON

THOMONDE

LE CHAPELLE

BOUCAN CARRE

DESARMES

MARCHANDDESSALINES

The Haitian educational system is divided into two major levels: “basic” education, where completion of the course of study is certifi ed by two examinations, the CEP (primary school) and the Brevet (middle school), and “secondary” level education, which ends with Bac I and II exams.

The system suffers from a lack of standards and control on the part of the Ministry of Education, from the heterogeneity of the curricula, from the more or less adequate quality of teaching and teachers, and from a disparity in ages in the same classroom (an age difference possibly attaining ten years within the same peer group).

Basic-level education

The Central Plateau and the Artibonite are recognized as provinces where the quality of education and the rate of school enrollment are poor.

The wide dispersion of the rural population has a substantial effect on the age at which children start school and on school enrollment. One thus fi nds an off-set of two to three years between the cities and the countryside: if a school is more than 5 km from their home, students have to wait until they are old enough to make it to school.

Universal schooling is an objective that entails mobilizing resources.

In order to remedy the problem of the quality of education, the national Ministry of Education and Vocational Training has created the EFACAP system (Basic-Level Teacher Training School, Educational Support Center) as part of its National Education and Training Plan (PNEF 1997) Deployed in four provinces, including the Center, it is intended to improve teacher training and increase the quality of teaching. The EFACAPs combine teaching activities and teacher training on one campus.

At present, it is necessary to shore up the network of EFACAPs by extending it to the North and Artibonite provinces, thus equipping Saint-Raphael, Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye and Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite with pilot schools and attaching to them a network of partner schools and distance learning classes.

Once networked, the EFACAPs will provide practical input in both public and private schools and will pass on the information to the remote classrooms (1st - 3rd grades, from age 6 -9), which will be set up in the communal sectors closest to the children.

Secondary Level

The “new” secondary curriculum has yet to be designed or implemented since the educational reform of 1997. Top-quality high schools should be set up in every city on the loop.

Vocational training and higher education

In order to combat unemployment among young people and major migrations from the hinterland to the large urban centers (Port-au-Prince, Cap Haïtien, Gonaïves), one must clearly offer local career alternatives, along with a range of vocational training courses suited to the reality of people’s needs and to opportunities found on the land.

A number of projects are already being prepared:

- In healthcare sectors (project of the Ministry of Public Health and Population. in Mirebalais);

- In the sectors for water, sanitation and solid waste (pro-ject of the DINEPA and the GDS, in Mirebalais).

Other skill areas also deserve to be developed:

- Agribusiness, in Hinche around the university center and the EMDH (the Hinche Technical School of Agri-culture), and in Saint-Michel in conjunction with the Savane Diane agricultural development project;

- Construction and roadwork trades, in Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye in conjunction with the project for the Regio-nal Public Works Center;

- A “computer science and communication” center in the Lower Artibonite;

- Language schools to promote international exchanges, especially with the Dominican Republic.

EDUCATION AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING

0 10 20km

VERRETTES



Young people are the country’s key to prosperity. Education is the sine qua non in combating poverty. Organizing the educational systems is a priority focus of the reconstruction e� orts.


TRADE AND TRANSPORT HUBS AND COMMUNITY LIFE CENTERS

� e trade and transport hubs

These will be linked to the system of public transportation and to the “mixed-mode” character of traditional means of transportation providing shuttle services and penetrating farther into the countryside via the farm roads.

Small, standardized bus stations will provide the interconnection to the main roads, separating express buses running the major arteries and local transportation that is poorly developed at present, but which will emerge with the new network of roads. This arrangement provides a better way to incorporate those traditional modes of transportation.

To this baseline operation, one could associate new markets that are better organized and safer, along with sanitary facilities that are managed like public rest houses. This “markets” program should be viewed as a whole in order to simultaneously upgrade the large traditional markets already in existence on the loop or in interconnecting areas such as those of L’Estère and Pont Sondé. Enhancing the viability of public spaces in urban centers is beginning to be a challenge. The plans for laying cobblestones on squares and streets is a primary example. This is a means of improving the quality of these spaces, but without any ground preparation and without provisions for their installation and upkeep other than replacing the asphalt, these improvements risk quickly ending up in a state of dilapidation that seems to affect anything considered “public” in Haiti.

In the cities, the main targets in terms of quality and maintenance are the schools, the courts and the churches. This means giving value to the function of, and especially managing, spaces that are open to the public but are not simply a no-man’s land as most of the marketplaces seem to be.

In this complicated context, one must combine the creation of new public spaces with the legal status of a semi-private “concession”: spaces set up and managed by a commanding authority where people are received in order to take part in or perform a given activity. These locations should be model zones in terms of safety, cleanliness and facilities (energy, sanitary functions, means of communication, etc.).

These “central units” could be of various sizes and have several different functions while still being associated with the roadway. One could add to these public facilities a set of private facilities such as small business units laid out in a “U” around a gas station. This might also be

an opportune place for a police station that is part of a network associated both with the cities and the roads. These 10 trade and transport hubs would constitute landmarks for a reliable, well-organized system of roads. They need not be limited to the Center-Artibonite loop and could usefully be located along the country’s major arteries.

Their spacing, their operational status and their proper management represent a stake in the transparency, success and image of roadside service facilities.

� e community life centers

A different question also frequently arises in the communal sectors concerning the lack of a central location and social center, mainly for the island’s burgeoning adolescent population. In each communal sector, one could thus create small “government domains” of 3 or 4 hectares that would combine sports, recreation, culture and public health – viewed as a set of preventive measures for young people. This “complex” of functions should include a set of permanent installations: a soccer fi eld, a gymnasium and sports grounds, all adjoining a small media center offering new technologies, that would also serve as a communications and public safety post. In the event of a weather-related emergency, this complex would become the rallying point for the city, while on the day-to-day level being seen as a place for sports, festivities and communication with the rest of the country and abroad.

Other functions, such as continuing education or a preventive health clinic, or a home base for community associations and a women’s shelter could be integrated into the usage plan based on local needs. Community dryers or grain silos might also be created there.

If these units are centrally located and designed to accommodate urban density, they could also be network heads for other facilities laid out in the core of the communal sectors.

While the fi rst step will be to create such places, the real problem will be how to manage them. As part of the policy of decentralization, local administrations will receive the necessary resources. Local authorities can already draw on decentralized assistance activities and NGOs to develop local projects based on a shared program.

EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES

HEALTH CENTER

MULTIMEDIA CENTER

MAIN ENTRANCE

HEALTHCARE FACILITIES

SPORTS FACILITY

COMMUNITY LIFE CENTER

TRADE AND TRANSPORT HUBS

BUS STATION

GAS STATIONMARKETPLACE

PUBLIC FACILITIES

Laid out in accordance with the sequencing of the loop (half an hour to the city), public-use spaces will embody the functions of market & transport centers and community life centers. � ey will be administered as «government domain» entities that combine a number of public or private functions. � ey will establish a presence in the area for the national government and for local institutions.

To be created in each of the 10 junction cities of the loop in order to promote social interchanges.

To be created throughout the zone of the Center-Artibonite loop in order to help organize social life within each of the 58 communal sectors and to establish there a point of shelter and assistance in the event of emergencies.

53THE PROJECTS52 CIAT - HAÏTI TOMORROW - THE CENTER-ARTIBONITE LOOP

THE PROJECTS4.

� e Center-Artibonite Loop is conceived of as a global, coherent land use project that is adapted to each particular set of circumstances.

� ese projects cover all of the areas of operations likely to structure the territory and modernize the economy of an agricultural region.

� ey are subsequently broken down by themes and by communities to allow for feasible and workable scales.

NB :The mock-up diagrams are offered only as illustrations. The precise locations of facilities and development zones will require feasibility studies and consultation with local populations.


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ARTIBONITE

23 KM 16 KM 28 KM 17 KM

24 KM17 KM21 KM19 KM

35 K

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36 K

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MAÏSSADE

RAC ORANGE

BUENABITE

COLLADÈRE

RAVINE FONT

MARMOND

BOUCAN CARRÉ

CHEVRIE

MARTINEAU

MARIN

VERRETTES

BOIS JOUR

SAVANE LONGUE

CANGE

PÉLIGRE

THOMONDE

HINCHE

MIREBALAIS

PIGNON

SAINT-RAPHAËL

SAINT-M

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MARCHAND-

DESSALINES

PETITE RIV

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COMMUNITY-LEVEL DEVELOPMENT

Bus station

Market

Factories and processing plants

Businesses and gas stations

University

New urban “unit”

Waste

Hospital

Energy

Media center and new technologies

EXISTING PROJECT

Dense urban zoneDiffuse urban zoneFarm roadThe part of the loop yet to be funded


GREEN SPACES / BUILT AREAS

MIREBALAIS

TO PORT-AU-PRINCE

This municipality, which was originally devoted to cattle raising and then to growing indigo, cotton and coffee, plays a strategic role in the Center-Artibonite project. It constitutes the main crossroad between the Port-au-Prince/Cap Haïtien axis and the Saint-Marc/Belladère line, and provides a connecting point between Saut-d’Eau, Boucan Carré and Lascahobas.The road to Port-au-Prince was opened in 2010 and the South-East by-pass is being built. Two development zones could be installed in the direction of Saint-Marc, and in particular, at the intersection of the roads leading to Thomonde and Lascahobas/Belladère.This is the spot where a road to open up Boucan Carré could be connected (line with a bridge over the Artibonite river).

As a crossroad city, it will be equipped with a major trade and transport hub to facilitate travel to Port-au-Prince, Cap Haïtien, Saint-Marc and Belladère, as well as to the Dominican Republic, including local trips to Boucan Carré, Saut-d’Eau and the various communal sectors.A junction city, its trade and transport hub will offer a new location devoted to a market, a public facilities center and a gas station.

Mirebalais is also host to facilities of regional importance such as the EFACAP, the construction of the community hospital, the project for a healthcare professions school, the project for a water and sanitation training school and the deployment of a waste processing center.

In addition, each of the 4 communal sectors, along with the city of Mirebalais, will be equipped with a community life center including a stadium, a multimedia center with electric power and access to computer and communication technologies, as well as educational facilities and a health unit.

TO BELLADÈRETO RÉPUBLIQUE DOMINICAINE

TO THOMONDETO PÉLIGRE

TRADE AND TRANSPORT HUB

PUBLIC FACILITIES CENTER

TO PETITE RIVIÈRETO SAINT-MARC

AREA FOR DEVELOPMENT23 ha

AREA FOR DEVELOPMENT

40 ha

FL

EU

VE

AR

TIB

ON

ITE

FLEU

VE A

RTIB

ON

ITE

CITY CENTER

CEMETERY

MARKET

Unit cost Number Cost Financing

Commerce & Transport Center $4 310 000 1 $4 310 000 Financing needed

Community Life Centers

(one per communal sector)$865 000 5 $4 325 000 Financing needed

Legal viability and bases for economic

activities zones$220 000 63 $13 860 000

To be financed

and phased in

Total $22 495 000

Facilities proposed for the municipality of Mirebalais - THE CENTER PROVINCE

- 89,000 inhabitants- 330 square kilometers- Urban portion: 16,000 inhabitants- Overall density: 2.7 inhab/hectare- Density in the center: 74.1 inhab/hectare

200m

TO BOUCAN CARRÉ


THOMONDE



CITY CENTER



7 ha

TO HINCHE

TO MIREBALAIS

CEMETERY

HOSPITALH

Thomonde marks the entrance to the Central Plateau after the Péligre dam and the site of the Cange hospital. It is an agricultural municipality whose economy is based on growing fruits, tobacco, coffee and sugar cane.

It is shaped as a very lengthy roadside city along the Thomonde river. Its charm comes from its rural character and low population density. Two areas for development can be envisioned to the East, on the road to Mirebalais, and to the West in the direction of Hinche.

A junction city on the Center-Artibonite loop, it will be equipped with a trade and transport hub combining regional transportation lines (Port-au-Prince/Cap Haïtien), local lines (links to the various communal sectors and outlying municipalities), a market, public facilities center and a gas station.

In addition, Thomonde’s 4 communal subdivisions will be equipped with a community life center including a stadium, a multimedia center with electric power and access to computer and communication technologies, as well as educational facilities and a health unit.The Artibonite 4C hydro-electric dam project and the construction of an electric power grid to Hinche, Thomassique and the Dominican Republic will offer improved access to electricity in the city. In the communal sectors, the community life centers will offer this access to electric power.







To be financed

and phased in

Total $11 935 000

Facilities proposed for the municipality of Thomonde - THE CENTER PROVINCE


300m



HINCHEHinche is a large municipality and offi cial seat of the Center province. Disputed between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, this city was declared to be Haitian by the treaties of 1929 and 1936.

The city unites the broad farming and cattle raising plateau of the central region. In addition to the Port-au-Prince/Cap Haïtien road, it is also connected to Thomassique in the direction of the Dominican Republic and to Maïssade in the direction of Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye. To the north of the Guayamouc river, towards Pignon, a large development zone could be deployed for setting up food processing industries.

As a junction city of the Center-Artibonite loop at the crossroads of National Highway 3 and the Saint-Michel/Hinche/Thomassique/Cerca-la-Source/Dominican Republic road, it will be equipped with a trade and transport hub combining regional transportation lines (Port-au-Prince/Cap-Haïtien line), local transportation lines (links with Maïssade, Thomassique, Cerca-la-Source and the Dominican Republic, and with various communal sectors), a market, public facilities center and a gas station.The city of Hinche and each of its 4 communal subdivisions will be equipped with a community life center including a stadium, a multimedia center with electric power and access to computer and communication technologies, as well as educational facilities and a health unit.

The Artibonite 4C hydro-electric dam project and the construction of an electric power grid to Hinche, Thomassique and the Dominican Republic will offer improved access to electricity in the city. In the communal subdivisions, the community life centers will offer this access to electric power.

Hinche also offers facilities of regional importance, including the EFACAP, the Sainte-Thérèse hospital, a vocational training center and the installation of a waste processing center.

AIRPORT


55 ha


TO THOMONDE

TO PIGNON

VERS THOMASSIQUE

CITY CENTER

- THE CENTER PROVINCE








To be financed

and phased in

Total $20 735 000

Facilities proposed for the municipality of Hinche

200m



MAÏSSADE

TO HINCHE

TO SAINT-MICHELDE L’ATTALAYE


CITY CENTER

CEMETERY

Located at the core of the Center-Artibonite loop, Maïs-sade is in the middle of the plateau, on the road from Hinche to Saint-Michel.

The local economy is based on crops of sugar cane, cof-fee, cotton and fruits. Cattle raising and honey gathering are also found there. The creation of new hillside water storage tanks will bring commercial value to the lands and allow them to be worked all year round.

A small development zone on the road to Saint-Michel may be implemented in order to install the social center and required services.

Maïssade’s 3 communal subdivisions will be equipped with a community life center including a stadium, a mul-timedia center with electric power and access to compu-ter and communication technologies, as well as educatio-nal facilities and a health unit.







Total $6 905 000

Facilities proposed for the municipality of Maïssade

200m









To be financed

and phased in

Total $10 220 000

Facilities proposed for the municipality of Pignon

PIGNON

TO HINCHE

TO OUNAMINTHE



AERODROME

TO SAINT-RAPHAËL


RIVIERE BOUYAHA

CITY CENTER

CEMETERY

MARKET

HOSPITALH

Pignon marks the entrance to the North province on National Highway 3. Located at the heart of a sugar cane producing region, the city is renown for its distilleries. Pignon is the site of the sole agricultural machinery re-pair shop, which supports the cane processing industry, draught plowing and provides maintenance for the water pumps.

To the north of the city, a development zone may be deployed on the sides of the Saint-Raphael road in order to set up food processing industries.

A junction city on the Center-Artibonite loop, it will be equipped with a trade and transport hub combining regional transportation lines (Port-au-Prince/Cap Haï-tien), local lines (links to Ouanaminthe and the Domini-can Republic, and with the various communal sectors), a market, public facilities center and a gas station.

The city of Saint Raphaël and each of its 2 communal sectors will also be equipped with a community life cen-ter including a stadium, a multimedia center with elec-tric power and access to computer and communication technologies, as well as educational facilities and a health unit.

The Bienfaisance hospital in Pignon, whose reputation extends beyond the borders of the province, should be upgraded following extension of its service area due to improvements to the roads.

- THE NORTH PROVINCE


200m



SAINT-RAPHAËLTO CAP HAÏTIEN

TO PIGNON



TO SAINT-MICHELDE L’ATTALAYE

BRIDGE TO REALISERN3 project


BOUYAHA RIVER

BOUYAHA RIVER

CANAL

CITY CENTER

CEMETERY

MARKET

Saint-Raphaël owes its reputation as the breadbasket of the North to the fertility of the farming region around it. It has a variety of products (vegetables, carrots, rice, onions, peppers, etc.) and improvement of the roads will facilitate getting them to market.To the west of the city, a development zone could be deployed to create foodprocessing industries.Located at the crossroads of National Highway 3 and the road to Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye and the Artibonite, its market is a renowned meeting place.

A junction city on the Center-Artibonite loop, it will be equipped with a trade and transport hub combining re-gional transportation lines (Port-au-Prince/Cap Haïtien and Saint-Marc/Cap Haïtien lines), local lines (links to the various communal sectors and various agricultural sectors), a major regional market, public facilities center and a gas station.

The city of Saint Raphaël and each of its 4 communal subdivisions will also be equipped with a community life center including a stadium, a multimedia center with electric power and access to computer and communica-tion technologies, as well as educational facilities and a health unit.







To be financed

and phased in

Total $11 055 000

Facilities proposed for the municipality of Saint Raphaël - THE NORTH PROVINCE


200m



SAINT-MICHEL DE L’ATTALAYE



MARKET TO SAINT-RAPHAËL

TO MAÏSSADE

TO MARCHAND DESSALINES

TO ENNERY


CEMETERY

CITY CENTER

Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye is a major crossroad, located at the conjunction of the Artibonite, Center and North provinces. It is at the hub of a star-shaped network linking it to Ennery, Marmelade, Dondon, Saint-Raphaël, Maïssade and Marchand Dessalines.

The creation of a by-pass road will allow the development of a large development zone to the southwest of the city.

A junction city on the Center-Artibonite loop, at the center of a vast agricultural plateau, it will be equipped with a trade and transport hub combining regional transportation lines (Saint-Marc/Cap Haïtien line), local lines (links to Ennery, Marmelade, Dondon, Maïssade, and the 8 communal subdivisions), a market, public facilities center and a gas station.

The city of Saint-Michel and each of its 8 communal subdivisions will be equipped with a community life center including a stadium, a multimedia center with electric power and access to computer and communication technologies, as well as educational facilities and a health unit.

A project for a thermal electric plant should provide greater access to electricity in the city. In the communal sectors, the community life centers will offer this access to electric power.

Saint-Michel is also the location of major regional facilities, including an EFACAP project, a hospital project and the ramping up of a regional public works center, a vocational training center and the deployment of a waste processing center.

In addition, the lands of Savane Diane could become commercially exploitable via a large agricultural, industrial and energy project.

- THE ARTIBONITE PROVINCE








To be financed

and phased in

Total $20 425 000

Facilities proposed for the municipality of Saint Michel de l'Attalaye

200m



MARCHAND DESSALINESTO L’ESTERE

TO PETITE RIVIÈRE

TO SAINT-MICHEL



CEMETERY



3 ha

CITY CENTER

Marchand Dessalines is located at the foot of the Montagnes Noires, in the western part of the Artibonite river basin. The city’s economy is mainly based on agriculture (coffee, rice, sorghum, beans, pigeon peas, fruits and vegetables) and animal raising (cattle, horses, goats, chickens and bees).

The city is marked by the role it played in Haiti’s history: A battleground at the time of independence and capital of the empire of James the 1st, it is surrounded by forts classifi ed as a national heritage.

At the intersection of the roads to L’Estère, Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite and Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye, a development zone could be deployed to set up factories.

A junction city on the Center-Artibonite loop, it will be equipped with a trade and transport hub combining regional transportation lines (Saint-Marc/Cap Haïtien, Gonaïves/Belladère and Dominican Republic lines), local lines (links to the various communal sectors and various agricultural sectors), a market, public facilities center and a gas station.

The city of Marchand Dessalines and each of its 6 communal sectors will be equipped with a community life center including a stadium, a multimedia center with electric power and access to computer and communication technologies, as well as educational facilities and a health unit.









To be financed

and phased in

Total $16 525 000

Facilities proposed for the municipality of Marchand Dessalines

200m



PETITE RIVIÈRE DE L’ARTIBONITEPetite Rivière de l’Artibonite is a major crossroads of the Lower Artibonite. It also bears marks of the role it played at the time of independence and its historical landmarks (Fort at la Crête-à-Pierrot and the Palace with 365 Doors) require upkeep and renovations.

The construction of a bridge over the Artibonite and a direct link to the Saint-Marc/Mirebalais road will provide an opportunity to create a large development zone on the left bank of the Artibonite.

A junction city of the Center-Artibonite loop, at the center of the Lower Artibonite’s irrigation system and rice paddies, it will be equipped with a trade and transport hub combining regional transportation lines (Saint-Marc/Cap Haïtien, Gonaïves/Belladère and Dominican Republic lines), local lines (links to the communal sectors), a market, public facilities center and a gas station.

The city of Petite Rivière and each of its 6 communal subdivisions will be equipped with a community life center including a stadium, a multimedia center with electric power and access to computer and communication technologies, as well as educational facilities and a health unit.

Petite Rivière will also host major regional facilities, including an EFACAP project, a vocational training center and the deployment of a waste processing center in Marin.









To be financed

and phased in

Total $26 425 000

Facilities proposed for the municipality of Petite Rivière de l'Artibonite


TO DESARMES

TO PONTSONDÉ

TO MARCHAND DESSALINES


CEMETERY

HOSPITAL

H

500m




VERRETTES



TO PETITE RIVIÈRE

TO LA CHAPELLE


CEMETERY

HOSPITAL

H

A district of Verrettes, Désarmes is located along the Saint-Marc to Pont Sondé road, on the left bank of the Artibonite.The local economy is based on crops of limes, coffee and rice.

At the south end of the district, a development zone could be implemented to expand the city.

A junction city on the Center-Artibonite loop, it will be equipped with a trade and transport hub combining regional transportation lines (Saint-Marc/Dominican Republic, Gonaïves/Dominican Republic lines), local lines (links to the various communal sectors and various agricultural sectors), a market, public facilities center and a gas station.

The district of Désarmes, as well as the city of Verrettes and each of its 4 communal subdivisions, will also be equipped with a community life center including a stadium, a multimedia center with electric power and access to computer and communication technologies, as well as educational facilities and a health unit.







To be financed

and phased in

Total $22 905 000

Facilities proposed for the municipality of Verrettes

Facilities proposed for the municipality of La Chapelle

- THE ARTIBONITE PROVINCE MUNICIPALITY OF VERRETTES

- 131,000 inhabitants (municipality of Verrettes)- 9,514 inhabitants (district of Désarmes)- 356 square kilometers (municipality of Verrettes)- 2.5 square kilometers (district of Désarmes)- Urban portion: 38,000 inhabitants (Verrettes, Liancourt, Désarmes)- Overall density: 3.7 inhab/hectare- Density of Désarmes: 37.0 inhab/hectare

200m


DISTRICT OF DESARMES


LA CHAPELLE



TO MIREBALAIS

TO DESARMES


CANAL

CITY CENTER

CEMETERY

MARKET

La Chapelle is located in the rolling hills of the left bank of the Artibonite river. The local economy depends basically on the production of vegetables.

A development zone could be created to expand the city by constructing a second district to the east of the present city center, on the road to Mirebalais.

A junction city on the Center-Artibonite loop, it will be equipped with a trade and transport hub combining regional transportation lines (Saint-Marc/Dominican Republic, Gonaïves/Dominican Republic lines), local lines (links to the various communal sectors and various agricultural sectors), a market, public facilities center and a gas station.

The city of La Chapelle and each of its 2 communal subdivisions will be equipped with a community life center including a stadium, a multimedia center with electric power and access to computer and communication technologies, as well as educational facilities and a health unit.









To be financed

and phased in

Total $13 725 000

Facilities proposed for the municipality of La Chapelle

200m



BOUCAN CARRÉ

SAUT D’EAU

LASCAHOBAS

Boucan Carré is located between the Montagnes Noires and the Artibonite river.

A small development zone could be implemented on the road to Mirebalais to create a trade and transport hub, local transportation links (links to the various communal sectors and the various agricultural sectors), a market, public facilities center and a gas station.

Boucan Carré’s 3 communal subdivisions will also be equipped with a community life center including a stadium, a multimedia center with electric power and access to computer and communication technologies, as well as educational facilities and a health unit.

The municipality of Saut-d’Eau is known for its waterfall and the festival of Notre-Dame du Mont Carmel, which draw an impressive number of visitors.

A development zone incorporating a market and a bus station would provide improved services for the pilgrims.The creation of a community life center in each of the 4 communal subdivisions would bring services closer to the population groups.

Located on the road from Mirebalais to Belladère, Lascahobas could host a small development zone around a trade and transport hub that would combine a market, a bus station and public facilities center.

Each of the 3 communal subdivisions would also be equipped with a community life center, including a stadium, media center, educational facilities and a health unit.











Total $7 770 000

Facilities proposed for the municipality of Boucan Carré





Total $8 635 000

Facilities proposed for the municipality of Saut d'Eau





Total $7 770 000

Facilities proposed for the municipality of Lascahobas

200m

200m


5 ha


3 ha

TO MIREBALAIS


400m





THE INVESTMENT PLAN

ROADS Investment Funding

RN3 Hinche - Cap Haïtien (Barrière Battant) Accounted for EDF / AFD

Las Cahobas - Belladère - Dominican Republic

Accounted for EDF

Saint-Raphaël - Saint-Michel $ 15 300 000,00 Financing needed

Saint-Michel - Marchand-Dessalines $ 38 000 000,00 Financing needed

Marchand-Dessalines - Petite Rivière $ 21 200 000,00 Financing needed

Marchand-Dessalines - L’Estère Accounted for FER

Pont Sondé - Mirebalais Accounted for FER

Saint-Michel - Maïssade - Hinche $ 29 700 000,00 Financing needed

Hinche - Thomassique - Dominican Republic $ 25 900 000,00 Financing needed

Saut d'Eau - Lafito Accounted for CNE

Regional Public Works Center Accounted for

ELECTRIC POWER Investment Funding

Vertical extension of the dike on the Péligre dam

$ 20 000 000,00 IDB

Artibonite 4C dam (Design-Construction-Operation-Maintenance)

$ 180 000 000,00 Brazil + others to be found

Renovation of the plant in Drouet $ 2 300 000,00 Financing needed

Renovation of the plant in Délugé $ 1 900 000,00 Financing needed

Renovation of the plant in Onde Verte $ 1 000 000,00 Financing needed

Construction of a generating plant for the spillway at the Caneau dam

$ 4 000 000,00 Financing needed

Interconnection of the plants to the grid (per plant)

$ 460 000,00 Financing needed

Deployment of the grid Accounted for Financing needed

Project for micro generating plants at Voûte, Minguet and Bouyaha


Project for micro generating plants at Granan and Guape


Project for micro generating plants at Roche Rameau and Platana


Project for micro generating plants at Bassin Laurent and Attalaye


TRAINING, CULTURE, HERITAGE Contracting Authority

Healthcare sector vocational training center (Mirebalais) MinHealth

Water sector vocational training center (Mirebalais) DINEPA

Construction trades professional training center (Hinche)MTPTC - Public works companies

Agronomy professional training center (Saint-Michel) MinAgr&Rural Dev.

Renovation of the Palace with 365 Doors, Petite Rivière de l'Artibonite

ISPAN

Delimitation of the National Historic Park of the Citadelle, World Heritage Site (UNESCO)

ISPAN

ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE

The construction of the backbone network under the contracting authority of the MTPTC is a prerequisite for development in this region. Given projects already under way, the cost of the segments required to complete the loop is estimated to be US74.5 million.

The secondary road from Saint-Michel to the Dominican Republic via Maïssade, Hinche and Thomassique is estimated to cost US$ 55.6 million.

INSTALLATIONS FOR THE ENTIRE CENTER-ARTIBONITE LOOP

ROADS Investment Funding

ELECTRIC POWER Investment Funding

TRAINING, CULTURE, HERITAGE Contracting Authority

ELECTRIC POWER

Except for the large Artibonite 4C project, all of the actions proposed remain to be fi nanced: US$44 million in investments for the new micro generating plants and approximately US$5 million for renovation of the existing plants.

It should be noted that the chain for commercial exploitation of biomass (sugar cane waste) would also enable the production of energy for the agro-industries.

TRAINING, CULTURE, HERITAGE

The table below recapitulates the projects already adopted by the government in terms of facilities devoted to training, as well as two actions to add commercial value to the natural and historical heritage of the region. The fi gures for these projects have not been calculated as part of this study, since they will be provided directly by the projects’ organizers.

LOWER ARTIBONITE (PETITE RIVIERE)

Contracting Authority

Investment

Renovation of 150 km of farm roads MTPTC $ 60 000 000,00

Construction of duty-free zone (legal status and 189 ha base)

MTPTC/local author. $ 41 580 000,00

Waste collection for the sector of Petite Rivière (7 collection points)

Local authorities $ 450 000,00

Waste processing plant at Marin (Petite Rivière) Local authorities $ 1 000 000,00

Upgrading of the Claire Heureuse hospital in Marchand Dessalines

MinHealth Accounted for

Upgrading of the Albert Schweitzer hospital in Deschapelles

HAS Accounted for

Creation of an EFACAP in Petite Rivière MinEd Accounted for

Social centers/Community Life centers Local authorities $ 33 690 000,00

Pg/81

THE INVESTMENT PLAN

LOWER CENTRAL PLATEAU (MIREBALAIS)


Investment




Waste collection for the sector of Mirebalais (9 collection points)


Waste processing center in Mirebalais Local authorities $ 1 250 000,00

Community hospital in Mirebalais Zami Lasanté Accounted for

Upgrading of the EFACAP in Mirebalais MinEd Accounted for


UPPER CENTRAL PLATEAU

(HINCHE) Contracting

Authority Investment




Waste collection for the sector of Hinche (6 collection points)


Waste processing center in Hinche Local authorities $ 1 250 000,00

Upgrading of the hospital in Cange Zami Lasanté Accounted for

Upgrading of the Sainte-Thérèse hospital in Hinche


Upgrading of the Bienfaisance hospital in Pignon

PFH Accounted for

Upgrading of the EFACAP in Hinche MinEd Accounted for

Hillside lake and irrigation (e.g. 20 ha lake) Local community $ 320 000,00


UPPER ARTIBONITE

(ST-MICHEL) Contracting

Authority Investment




Waste collection for the sector of Saint-Michel (4 collection points)


Waste processing center in Saint-Michel de l'Attalaye

Local authorities $ 2 000 000,00

Community hospital in Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye


Creation of an EFACAP in Saint-Michel MinEd Accounted for

Hillside lake and irrigation (e.g. 20 ha lake) Local community $ 320 000,00

Project for biomass generating plant in Savane Diane

Agro-industries $ 65 000 000,00

Industrial plants for processing sugar cane Agro-industries/Energy sector

$ 85 000 000,00

Improvement of thermal performance of small plants

Energy sector $ 8 000 000,00


INVESTMENTS BY GEOGRAPHIC SECTOR

LOWER CENTRAL PLATEAU (MIREBALAIS)


Investment

UPPER CENTRAL PLATEAU (HINCHE)


Investment

UPPER ARTIBONITE (ST-MICHEL)


Investment

LOWER ARTIBONITE (PETITE RIVIERE)


Investment

In addition to renovating the secondary road system, we propose setting up waste management interventions in the various sectors of the Center-Artibonite loop. This is part of an extension of the activities undertaken in terms of public health by the DINEPA, which is developing priority projects for each of the 10 cities on the loop to improve access to drinking water and sanitation.

In each sector, there will also be a need to defi ne actions for the protection and restoration of soils, for which a budget of US$10 million should allow one to achieve results on the high-priority watersheds.

The four sectors will also receive assistance in terms of health and educational facilities.

In terms of urban facilities, for each of the 14 cities on the loop, we propose to build a social services center equipped with the following facilities:market, bus station, gas station and multi-media center.

In all 58 communal sectors of the 14 municipalities directly linked to the Center-Artibonite loop project, we propose to construct a community life center based on the following facilities: Sports installation (stadium and showers), educational facilities (6 classrooms of 40 m2 + 300 m2 fi eld), Health Unit (3 rooms of 40 m2), electricity for the isolated communal relays (28 photovoltaic panels).

Lastly, certain actions will serve to promote economic development:- legal sanction for and construction of the bases for the duty-free zones;- irrigation projects (the tables show the cost for a hillside water storage tank, but this type of construction should be done in the region as widely as possible).

To make all of these actions a reality, investment budgets will be needed for developing agricultural credit (US$20 million) and the establishment of a land survey and registry, especially in the urban sections (US$14 million).

82 CIAT - HAÏTI TOMORROW - THE CENTER-ARTIBONITE LOOP

Project proposal produced by:

GOVERNANCE

� e loop covers, from the point of view of territorial management, areas that are legally and administratively under the purview of other entities: the 14 municipalities and 58 communal subdivisions on or within the loop are located in three provinces (North, Artibonite and Center) and seven districts. Some municipalities destined to play a major role (Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite and Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye) are not the administrative seats of their district. Inter-municipal cooperation will be the most suitable means of bringing coherence to the actions for establishing and managing the loop. Four centers have been designated: Mirebalais, Saint-Michel de l’Attalaye, Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite and Hinche. � ese four centers will play a leadership role in the operation.

Establishment of the loop will require strong political support that will � rst have to come from the national government and will imply, in practice, negotiations in terms of budget allocation. Fiscal measures must be developed to provide for the recurrent costs of the infrastructure: road maintenance, building maintenance, operation of facilities, additional civil servants.

Deconcentration and decentralization will be the key words. Civil servants from the national level will need to be redeployed to operate the facilities and the loop may be seen as a test case for regional civil service operations. Local administrations will have to ramp up to de� ne new game rules, especially concerning building codes for the urban and rural areas, as well as enforcement of those codes.

Lastly, the administrative mapping of the loop will have to be redrawn with a constant eye toward the e� ciency, balance and sustainability of these boundaries so that the areas to be administered cease to vary in scope. Territorial management also involves managing land ownership: at minimum, survey and registry for urbanized areas and their immediate surroundings are an essential part of orienting the growth of hamlets and cities.

Every e� ort should be made to assist local businesses and attract capital from other regions of the country or from abroad.

GLOSSARY

AFD: Agence Française de Développement [French Agency for Development]

IDB: InterAmerican Development Bank

DINEPA: National Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation

EFACAP: Basic-Level Teacher Training School and Educational Support Center

EMDH : Hinche Mid-Level School of Agriculture

EDF: European Development Fund

FER: Fonds d’Entretien Routier [Highway Maintenance Fund]

GDS: Gestion des Déchets Solides [Solid Waste Management]

HIMO: High-Intensity Manual Labor

MinHealth: Ministry of Public Health and Population

MTPTC: Ministry of Public Works, Transportation and Communication

BCO: Baseline Community Organisation

NPET: National Program for Education and Training

NHP: National Historic Park

UNDP: United Nations Development Program

UNPE: United Nations Environment Program

UNAP: Université Autonome de Port-au-Prince

UNESCO: United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization

UPAG: Université Publique de l’Artibonite aux Gonaïves [Public University of the Artibonite in Gonaïves]

with the assistance of :

Bernard Reichen Architect-Urban PlannerReichen et Robert & Associés

SETEC Engineering ! rm

Alfred PeterLandscape designer

Project proposal ! nancedby the World Bank

Comité Interministériel d’Aménagement

du Territoire [Inter-Ministerial Commis-

sion for Infrastructure Development]

GOVERNMENT OF HAITI

Inter-Ministerial Committee For Territorial Development

Boucle Centre Artibonite (English version)

Documents

Transcript of Boucle Centre Artibonite (English version)