Let's Build Gonave, Haiti!

About 5 days ago I mentioned the idea of scheduled mini-bus system on La Gonave.  The importance of having such a system, and the benefits of this type of project are listed on that blog. One major thing to consider is the costs of the system.  While the buses can range from $20 - $40,000 per bus, the biggest issues are not the cost of the bus.  Road construction, stops, and maintenance buildings are the biggest issues.  In the post I made 5 days ago I mentioned the route could start from the public wharf or the airport.  While the wharf has some pavement, this is also very limited, but could prove to be a better starting point for the mini bus system.  The mini bus system would be an inner city system, but again, the infrastructure must be there.  How do you pay for all of this to get the system started. One idea, which maybe controversial, would be a tax on ferry and boat landings to and from the island of La Gonave per passenger.  While...

If La Gonave became a Special Administrative Region, one major way to bring in need revenue is to build outside of Haiti.  Building apartment buildings could bring in monthly revenue that could then be used to develop the region.  For example, the average house purchase in Seattle, is $500,000 US.  That is usually a 3 bdrm 1 bath house that is under 1,200 sq ft.  The average rent in Seattle for a 1 bdrm, 1 bath apartment of 6-700 sq ft is about $1,700 US per month! So by simply building a small container apartment building in say, Tacoma, which is just outside of Seattle, you can still have high rent, but on cheaper land.  Land in Tacoma is a little cheaper than Seattle, and you can find land that is literally a few blocks from Downtown Tacoma.  Tacoma even is expanding their light rail line, as well as their rail terminal, port, and University of Washington Tacoma campus.  All of which are downtown.  Tacoma is booming because Seattle is boomin...

Many folks are saying that Haiti is starting to move in a backwards position economically.  That in the first part of the year, the country was moving in the right direction and now it is the opposite.  Folks are saying invest in Haiti. Here are a problem with that.  For one, I will speak specifically about La Gonave, but it applies to all of Haiti. Cost - Cost too much money to invest in Haiti.  When you can open a business cheaper in America, and get more money, then why invest in Haiti?  From port fees to buying materials, Haiti is very costly.  Lack of skills - Skills are a major problem.  From lack of customer service skills, data entry, mechanical, etc.  Haiti doesn't have large groups of people to fill skill sets companies need. Security - Too many guns and violence on the street, will keep foreign investors away. Government -Too many people are not in the position for upward mobility.  The government should focus on building ...

Why rail? Building a light rail before roadways seems a bit backwards in most parts of the world.  The problem with roads are the large amount of vehicle pollution, road take up a large amount of space, and roads are expensive to maintain. Keep in mind, Gonave is a very tiny island.  Roads and highways should be built, but shouldn't be the initial first piece of land transportation.  Given that everything has to be imported, you would have to import fuel for all of the vehicles, and even import the vehicles themselves.  It all adds up to major expenses. If a light rail line was built, the initial costs would be pretty expensive, however the lines and rolling stock vehicles would last for a very long time.  Also wind turbines  could power the entire initial system.  Again the initial costs would be expensive.  A wind turbine cost $3-4 million for a 2 MW system.  A 2 MW system could power some 30,000 US homes.  A light rail train co...

Gonave has a dirt runway that would not be strong enough for larger aircraft to land.  Given that constructing a runway, and terminal could cost several million dollars, it wouldn't be something that would be immediately feasible.  Even a small scale, bare bones airport with a single 7,500 ft runway and a tiny 20,000 sq ft terminal would be at least $50 million.  So what is the alternative? As you know I like to find a cheaper way to do things that actually work.  When I was in Seattle this weekend I saw many seaplanes.  Many of these planes were small Cessna type craft, and not like the larger plane you see above.  Given the unique circumstances at Gonave, having a seaplane that takes off from Miami, or Haiti, makes for a more practical choice.  Funny that the above plane based out of Vancouver, Canada are the colors of the potential Gonave Flag.  I personally would have a yellow sun in the middle of the tail. The above aircraft would be t...

  Miami!  While Gonave has dirt runway that can only accommodate very small planes, the new Gonave will have a modern runway.  Based on many international destinations, a 2 mile runway is typical in order for an airport to handle very large passenger and cargo planes. So what American City should be on Gonave's short list of Gateway cities?  Without question this should be Miami for many reasons.  Like New York City, Miami has many Haitian nationals and many people of Haitian decent.  So air traffic to Gonave could easily be established due to this, especially if better infrastructure to Haiti were to happen. The close proximity to Haiti/Gonave makes Miami also very attractive as well.  Smaller aircraft can be flown in initially until service levels prove for larger craft.  Also an entrepreneur on Gonave or Haiti could start a small feeder airline that connects Miami to Gonave. Miami is an international city.  With flights...