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Haiti has many problems but is blessed with massive cheap
hydro-electric and thermal power sources. However,
Electrite d’Haiti (EDH) the state electricity company has failed miserably to
provide sufficient power for the country’s needs.
Haiti's energy consumption per capita is only one-third that of the
world's poorest nations. The surface problem is the Priz.
Poor people steal free electricity by climbing to the top of an
electric line and connect their wire to that of a central electrical cable.
Richer people pay electricians to adjust their meters.
EDH has lost millions over the years and the supply has become so bad
that most of the country, receives only three or four hours of electricity a
day. Most large companies produce their own electricity.
Even individuals have resorted to doing the same through the use of small
generators called “inverters”.
Poor people burn wood and charcoal instead. Lost investment means that that the poor stay poor and pay
even less for their electricity. The
environmental cost is incalculable. The fundamental problem is the nationalisation of EDH, which has had no market incentive to collect fees, punish theft or invest in new plant. It has failed even to maintain its existing plants. Dams built with foreign aid are silting up and thermo-electric power stations steadily deteriorating. Instead EDH organises conferences and commissions reports on wind and solar alternatives. As the Director General Pierre Francois Sildor says “Technology and knowledge progress quickly and we have to keep up to date.” Indeed they do Mr Sildor, but they are progressing too fast
for you. All independent
observers agree that it is time for a determined privatisation programme. There is a model next door in the Dominican Republic, which
completed the sell off of its state electricity assets in May 1999.
Overall $650 million was raised through privatisations and the results
are already appearing. In
1999, about 500 MW of new or upgraded capacity was installed, and two more
combined cycle gas turbine project started in 2000. In
2001 they started selling electricity to Haiti.
You can bet they will get paid for it. To see how individual Haitians view the situation look at their global village bulletin board and vote in their global village poll on EDH privatisation Jim Thornton, Leeds, 19 Sept 2001 |
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