On Friday at the Marriott Hotel, Prime Minister Jean Henry Céant and the European Union officially launched the "UrbAyiti" program to support harmonious and resilient urban development in Haiti.

This is an ambitious Haitian program, funded by the European Union (EU) through the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) for 52.5 million euros (± 4.23 billion gourdes) the preparatory phase of which began at the end of 2017. "UrbAyiti" will be deployed over the next four years with the concrete objectives of implementing the city's policy, a better urban environment, risk mitigation works, an improvement of mobility, better access to water and new urban infrastructure such as roads, drainage, public spaces or bridges.

"The European Union is supporting the Government in a two-pronged approach : to improve living conditions in the city center by helping to revive the Haitian capital [...] and bring hope to the cities of Les Cayes, Jérémie, Dame- Marie and Beaumont to create places of life that allow the people of the province to live well at home rather than indignity in Port-au-Prince," declared the Prime Minister.

In his speech Vincent Degert, the EU Ambassador in Haiti stressed "after the earthquake of 2010, the European Union mobilized strongly, with its partners, alongside the Haitian state to redevelop nine neighborhoods in Haiti, through a global approach to improve, in addition to homes, the entire living environment of a neighborhood with access to water, electricity and new collective infrastructure, among other things [...] Today we want to take a new step by supporting another Haitian state-led urban governance to create the conditions for a more sustainable and harmonious urban environment across the country for the benefit of the entire country. population."

Urbayiti involves a large number of actors. In addition to the Primature, through the Interministerial Committee for Territorial Planning (CIAT), there are closely associated the Ministry of Public Works; from within and from territorial communities; Economy and Finance; of the environment ; of Agriculture and the Ministry of Planning as well as the town halls of Port-au-Prince, Les Cayes and Jérémie.

The Office of the National Authorizing Officer of the EDF ensures coordination between the Haitian State and the European Union and the execution of the program with CIAT. We should also underline the central role of Expertise France (co-financed by France) which supports the Office of the Authorizing Officer for the coherence of actions and assists the Ministry of the Interior and the concerned town halls in the implementation of their activities. The Spanish Agency for Development Cooperation will co-finance and work with the Regional Office for Drinking Water and Sanitation (OREPA) in the West to improve access to water and sanitation, in project intervention areas in the commune of Port-au-Prince. In addition, several NGOs will accompany the town halls for the implementation of projects in the cities of Les Cayes and Jérémie.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26374-haiti-politic-draft-plan-for-development-and-extension-of-jeremie.html

HL/ HaitiLibre