Let's Build Gonave, Haiti!

I wrote about how La Gonave would no longer be sold. During the time that the decree was signed vs when it was voted down, many potential and real investors have walked away from La Gonave. In that blog I wrote how they would have lost any investment they put on the island. We even halted projects just to see what would happen with the Haitian elections and the decree the island was under. Both of those issues are now solved! Thank Goodness! Now we have to work at the beginning to bring folks back to the table to consider developing the island for the sake of the people, and not some underhanded offshore deal. With that said, the small village of Megasin could be the focus city for development. Megasin is a village NW of the city of Anse-a-Galets and has a population of under 100 people. With a smaller population and close proximity to Anse-a-Galets, the landing strip and the wharf, Megasin is ripe for development. The development would be stretched over a period of time and ...

Not long ago, the now ex-President Michel Martelly signed a decree that allowed the island of La Gonave to be entered into a long term land lease. The company, which was foreign, would have been able to own all things on the island (movable and immovable), and would have setup accounts to a foreign bank for a tax haven. In return, the company claimed it would build up the island and provide jobs, housing, education, etc for the island's people. Most local Haitians on the island felt that this would not happen and they would get the short end of the stick. In fact we stopped working on the island when we found out the decree was signed. Anything that we would have put on the island would be owned by this company. So why invest in something just to have it tied up in legal battles and even possibly loosing your investment.? What stopped the process at the time of the decree was that Haiti didn't have a full Parliament so they couldn't vote on it. Without a vote, the d...