Above: the energy talks in Port-au-Prince (Photo: OPM Haiti)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Haiti Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe chaired talks with US officials and multilateral partners this week aimed at developing solutions to restructure the country’s troubled energy sector.

Due to low production capacity, non-payment, chronic management and other factors just 31 percent of Haitians have access to electricity, according to government data.

And management at the country’s EDH utility leads to what the government said were “huge losses” every year.

Lamothe was joined by US State Department official Cheryl Mills, US Ambassador to Haiti Pamela White and representatives of the World Bank and the Inter-American Investment Bank.

The talks revolved around both the management of EDH and the creation of a public-private partnership to improve both the production and distribution of electricity, according to Lamothe’s office.

The potential partnership would involve bringing in foreign investors to provide “technical assistance” to the government to improve the country’s energy apparatus, Lamothe’s office said.

The government said donors expressed their “full commitment” to help Haiti develop a new energy policy.