Six Months Later: Roadblocks to Haiti's Reconstruction

Six months after an earthquake devastated Haiti, the Caribbean country continues its struggle to rebuild. The slow crawl of reconstruction stems from a delay in declaring when the next election would take place. At the same time, the destruction and death caused by the massive January 12 earthquake serves as a roadblock to reconstruction. In an interview with The Miami Herald, UN Special Envoy to Haiti Bill Clinton outlines progress and challenges for rebuilding the country, from helping the displaced resettle to removing the huge quantities of debris.

One issue has been the slow pace to set elections. On June 29, President René Préval signed a presidential decree committing to a November 28 date for a general election, when a new parliament and president  will be chosen. Préval drew criticism for the delay. Several donor countries would not fully donate funds pledges unless Haiti produced a detailed budget for reconstruction and an electoral calendar agreed to by Préval. A June 10 U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee report highlighted hurdles to reconstruction, calling for the scheduling of elections and the immediate restructuring of Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) to ensure transparency. Préval rejected the report’s recommendations that he accept international help in restructuring Haiti’s CEP or open elections to the banned opposition party aligned with former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. “I cannot set up an electoral council in consultation with international partners,” said Préval. “I form the electoral council with national partners.” The next president’s inauguration is slated for February 7, 2011, though Préval is legally permitted to stay in office until May 14 in the case of problems with the electoral process.

Meanwhile, rebuilding proceeds slowly as long-term funds trickle in. The Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission (IHRC), co-chaired by Bill Clinton and Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, oversees reconstruction. Created in April in one of the Haitian Parliament’s final acts before it essentially dissolved due to members’ terms expiring, the commission’s inauguration took place in June. The IHRC, guided by 26 voting member—of which half are Haitian and half represent major donor countries and agencies—has a mandate through October 2011 to manage spending of donations above $500,000. But securing funds has been a challenge in and of itself; at the six-month mark, just 10 percent of total funds pledged had been delivered.

The destruction wreaked by the earthquake serves as the defining political and reconstruction hurdle. The inability to identify large numbers of the estimated 300,000 dead or locate thousands of internally displaced persons hinders the overhaul of the country’s voter registration lists.The death of a major segment of Haitian civil servants, whose positions remain largely unfilled, serves as another barrier to reconstruction in Haiti. The U.S. State Department estimates that 17 percent of Haiti’s civil service force perished in the earthquake. Other sources place the figure as high as 25 percent.

Land disputes serve as another obstacle, given uncertainty over where boundaries between properties lie and the owners may be, if still alive.Renters accounted for 70 percent of those displaced by the earthquake, further complicating the process of determining ownership. That uncertainty led to hesitation by the Haitian government in seizing demolished properties and came at a time when 1.5 million Haitians still live in tents awaiting construction of new buildings. Moreover, rubble serves as a literal and figurative roadblock for Haiti. Less than 5 percent has been removed. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates that the enormous amount of debris, between 20 and 25 million cubic yards, could take 20 years to remove.

Learn More:

• Prime Minister of Haiti Jean-Max Bellerive and former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who co-chair IHRC, co-authored an op-ed in The New York Times about the recovery process six months on.
• Wired.com’s Haiti Rewired explores tech and infrastructure solutions for Haitian reconstruction.
• The Miami Herald’s multimedia Haiti website includes video, photo, and a memorial database.
• Government of Haiti Reconstruction Platform Website.
• United Nations Special Envoy to Haiti.
• The Interim Haiti Recovery Commission.
• The Haiti Reconstruction Fund.
• The World Summit on the Future of Haiti.