According to a 2015 assessment, 61 percent of Haiti’s population lived more than two kilometers away from an all-weather road, and most rural roads were in such poor condition that they were barely passable. In fact, while recent efforts to improve the road network have increased intercity connectivity, half of the nation remains poorly connected. Some regions are totally isolated for days during the rainy season, which often comes with major storms and hurricanes.
In Haiti, the road network is limited to about 3450 km (700 km of national roads, 1,500 km of departmental roads, and 1,200 km of tertiary roads for 27,750 km2 of territory. In comparison, Burundi (27,834 km2) has 12,322 km of roads.
“Absence of transportation infrastructure generates a lack of access to basic services or even to public market to sell agricultural products. On rainy season and when catastrophes occur, rivers flood and landslides cut access to the main roads. This reduces the opportunity to reach services on both sides”, said Engineer Jonas Robinson Leger, Head of the Unité Centrale d’Exécution, in Haiti’s Ministry of Public Works. "Closing this gap is essential to ensure every Haitian has opportunity as infrastructure is central to economic growth and poverty reduction and also enhances the country’s resilience to natural disasters.”
With support from the World Bank and other partners, the government developed the Rural Access Index tool aiming to address infrastructure needs. The tool focuses on reinforcing all-weather connectivity by constructing bridges, scuppers, retaining walls, among others. In some critical paths, concrete is added to road segments to mitigate the impact of natural catastrophes on the intercity connectivity.
“We can take the example of the city of Maissade, in the Centre Department, where there is no important hospital nor commercial bank. The inhabitants must cross the Rio Frio River, Bonbon River, and the Nahan River, that cut the main road in three different sections, to access to health or economic services. Between December 2019 to April 2022, we built the necessary bridges and concrete box culvert to allow affordable circulation. Now, even in rainy days people can easily move from Maissade to Hince, and vice-versa, without concern of being impacted by the flood”.
Overall, in the past 15 years the transport projects financed by the World Bank contributed to stabilizing the Marigot-Jacmel; Port-Salut-Les Anglais segments; and more than 350 km of road; reconstructed the Chalon, Dolin, Fauché, La Thème, and Boucan Carré bridges with resilient methods; rehabilitated and reinforced 210 small bridges, culverts, and reinforced and repaired more than 28 major structures.
Innovation Drives Faster Disaster Response
Hurricane Matthew in 2016 affected over 2 million people, about 20 percent of Haiti’s population, primarily in the poorest regions of the county. It also resulted in flooding, landslides, and the extensive destruction of infrastructure and livelihoods. The damage to road transport was significant: 1,200 KM of primary, secondary and tertiary roads were damaged to varying degrees. Twenty-nine engineering structures were damaged including the Ladigue Bridge on the Petit Goâve side, in the West Department, was destroyed. The total cost of loss and damage was estimated at US$208 million according to the Post Disaster Needs Assessment.
At the recommendation of the Haitian Government, infrastructure projects financed by the World Bank helped to stock emergency bridges to allow quick response in reconnecting communities without or with little administrative procedures. Normally, the process can take a year to initiate the construction of a bridge, which is a very long timeframe in a post-disaster recovery process.
From 2014 to 2020, projects funded by the World Bank helped to buy 28 temporary bridges. This innovative solution facilitated the quick installation of a bridge on the Ladigue river after Hurricane Matthew to reconnect the country to the entire 2 million of inhabitants of the Nippes, South and Grand’Anse region. Recently, it has allowed the government to reestablish connectivity between the Grand’Anse population and the rest of the country after the tremendous 2021 earthquake that hit Haiti’s Southern region.
Connecting, Despite Challenges
Today, the transport sector represents the largest segment of the World Bank’s portfolio in Haiti, accounting for 28% of the $1.3 billion total. Thanks to this funding, the government is undertaking urgent maintenance work on the Cap Haitian Airport runway. This will facilitate the flow of aircraft while increasing the level of security. Meanwhile, the main project includes the construction of a control tour, aiming to regularize aerial transportation, increasing the level of safety of travelers, and resizing the runway to adapt it to increasing demand.
At the same time, the government is working on the construction of several road segments in the historical city of Cap Haitian such as the SOS road, the Vertières – Fort St Michel segment (5 KM + a 48 meters bridge under the Haut du Cap River) which will also minimize traffic and increase mobility inside the city. In the southern region, infrastructure projects will also include the rehabilitation of the road section Cayes – Torbeck, which in a very bad shape, as well as the treatment of more than 100 critical points in small towns and rural areas.
As with other sectors, infrastructure is affected by the overall country context, characterized by a tense security situation and a volatile political atmosphere. Among the constraints, international firms hesitate to bid for contracts, qualified local human resources tend to leave the country, essential materials don’t reach construction sites on time and access to fuel are among factors delaying project execution.
The Unité Centrale d’Exécution is strategizing to deliver. “Now we use the electronic platform Bonfire to realize bid solicitation. This facilitates the procurement process, while reducing the staff’s exposure. As most of our activities are outside of the metropolitan area of Port au Prince, we now have some satellite offices in regions that allow us to be more mobile in our supervision works”, said Engineer Leger.
