Above: Haiti President Michel Martelly during his visit to Electricity of Haiti (Photo: OP Haiti)
By the Caribbean Journal staff
Haiti President Michel Martelly made a visit Thursday to the headquarters of Haiti’s Electricity of Haiti utility to monitor the situation with the company following Tropical Storm Isaac.
EDH has reportedly restored electrical power to the 32 metropolitan areas hit by the storm, which destroyed 230 processors and 2,200 electrical posts throughout Haiti.
Haiti’s president met with several EDH officials during the visit, including Director General Andress Apollon, to discuss ways to develop a “more effective” action plan for distributing electricity in Haiti.
“It will be a progressive emergency plan,” he said.
Martelly has called for what he termed “drastic” measures to be taken against those who interfere with EDH’s grid, and called for a new dynamic in the vision of the utility.
“We are working tirelessly to revitalize EDH,” said Apollon, the first woman to ever head the institution.
Energy is one of the so-called “Five Es” Martelly set out as priorities at the beginning of his administration: they include employment, education, energy, the environment and the Rule of Law (each begins with E in French.)
Martelly said he would “continue to accompany EDH” as Haiti looks to modernize its energy sector.
Some of that help will come from Venezuela’s PetroCaribe — between 80 and 85 percent of PetroCaribe funds target Haiti’s energy sector.
Haiti’s government subsidizes EDH to the tune of $160 million each year.
“I hate to see darkness settle in the streets and in homes,” Martelly said. “We must change that.”