Is construction work finally on the way in Haiti?

Where are the Construction Jobs in Haiti?? 

Pompano Beach-based AshBritt Inc. so far has invested $25 million in its Haitian reconstruction operation covering a soccer field. Though they don't know yet how big the contracts will be, they're banking from experience on the tantalizing prospect of work for years to come. AshBritt was awarded nearly $900 million from the U.S. government for debris removal after Katrina, collecting and processing some 21 million cubic yards of wreckage.

What has been the holdup in getting the rebuilding going in Haiti at the level everyone expected and the residents require? Very little of the promised foreign aid has been released, caught up either in legislative approval, bureaucratic regulations or in the complications of life in Haiti.

This blog is made possible in part by Restaurant.com. Please support our sponsors and save lots of money!

Get $25 Restaurant certificates for only $2

The U.S. Congress, for example, is still considering a bill that would provide up to $2 billion to Haiti. The Caribbean country, meanwhile, faces a dizzying – and time-consuming – array of logistical and legal issues, including securing permission to tear down buildings whose owners perished in the quake. Any land cleared for construction risks being taken over immediately by squatters.

But Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, who will oversee the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission with former U.S. President Bill Clinton, said financing and construction contracts would start to be issued within months.  

“No one is doing anything yet.  All the companies are waiting for the projects to be approved,” said Manuel Estrella, president of Grupo Estrella,

Meanwhile, the Haitian government there has launched a first-of-its-kind design competition to help replace the country’s decimated housing stock.

On June 17, the Republic of Haiti unveiled “Building Back Better Communities,” which invites architects and non-architects alike from around the globe to create homes for a 12-acre former sugar plantation on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. Because the site was not affected by the quake and is city owned, it is an ideal place for government officials to study different housing types before commissioning them for destroyed neighborhoods, according to competition organizers.

The competition, which will have multiple winners, is divided into two parts to attract the greatest variety of ideas, officials say.

For more information about the competition, visit the Web site.

We'll keep you posted.

Mike