Above: the Caracol Industrial Park (Photo: OP Haiti)
By the Caribbean Journal staff
The United States has disbursed more than $2.5 billion in Haiti since the earthquake in January 2010, according to a State Department release issued Wednesday.
That number represents disbursements through the end of September 2012. The US had committed more than $3.6 billion toward “relief, recovery and reconstruction” in the same period, it said.
Of those totals, the US said it had committed $2.3 billion in reconstruction and development assistance for “recovery and long-term reconstruction activities,” as part of a five-year Haiti strategy.
Those projects have ranged from rubble removal and shelter to support for the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission.
USAID recently completed reconstruction on a $1.7 million bridge project near Freres.
The US has been leading efforts at the recently-inaugurated Caracol Industrial Park, together with the Inter-American Development Bank and the Haitian government.
But the US has not avoided concerns over distribution and implementation of aid projects, a considerable problem for Haiti since the earthquake.
In 2012, a government audit found oversight issues with regard to some US-backed aid projects in Haiti.
In a bid to address the problem, last month, the US Embassy announced the creation of an anti-corruption hotline to prevent fraudulent and corrupt practices within programmes funded by USAID, in partnership with Transparency International and the US Office of the Inspector General.