PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI —
Nearly nine months after the earthquake, more than a
million Haitians still live on the streets between piles
of rubble. One reason: Not a cent of the $1.15 billion
the U.S. promised for rebuilding has arrived.
The money was pledged by Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton in March for use this year in rebuilding. The
U.S. has already spent more than $1.1 billion on
post-quake relief, but without long-term funds, the
reconstruction of the wrecked capital cannot begin.
With just a week to go before fiscal 2010 ends, the
money is still tied up in Washington. At fault:
bureaucracy, disorganization and a lack of urgency, The
Associated Press learned in interviews with officials in
the State Department, the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, the White House and the U.N. Office of the
Special Envoy. One senator has held up a key
authorization bill because of a $5 million provision he
says will be wasteful.
Meanwhile, deaths in Port-au-Prince are mounting, as
quake survivors scramble to live without shelter or
food.
"There are truly lives at stake, and the idea that
folks are spending more time finger-pointing than
getting this solved is almost unbelievable," said John
Simon, a former U.S. ambassador to the African Union who
is now with the Center for Global Development, a
Washington think tank.
Nor is Haiti getting much from other donors. Some 50
other nations and organizations pledged a total of $8.75
billion for reconstruction, but just $686 million of
that has reached Haiti so far — less than 15 percent of
the total promised for 2010-11.
The lack of funds has all but halted reconstruction
work by CHF International, the primary U.S.-funded group
assigned to remove rubble and build temporary shelters.
Just 2 percent of rubble has been cleared and 13,000
temporary shelters have been built — less than 10
percent of the number planned.
The Maryland-based agency is asking the U.S.
government for $16.5 million to remove more than 21
million cubic feet of additional rubble and build 4,000
more temporary houses out of wood and metal.
"It's just a matter of one phone call and the trucks
are out again. We have contractors ready to continue
removing rubble. ... We have local suppliers and
international suppliers ready to ship the amount of wood
and construction materials we need," said CHF country
director Alberto Wilde. "It's just a matter of money."
Last week the inaction bore tragic results. On Friday
an isolated storm destroyed an estimated 8,000 tarps,
tents and shacks in the capital and killed at least six
people, including two children. And the threat of
violence looms as landowners threaten entire camps with
forced eviction.
In Washington there is confusion about the money. At
a July hearing, Ravij Shah, director of the U.S. Agency
for International Development, thanked members of
Congress for approving the funds, saying, "The resources
are flowing and are being spent in country."
It wasn't true then, and still hasn't happened.
When the earthquake hit, U.S. agencies sent troops,
rescuers, aid workers and supplies to the devastated
capital, Port-au-Prince. On March 24, President Barack
Obama asked Congress for $2.8 billion in emergency aid
to Haiti — about half to pay back money already spent by
USAID, the Defense Department and others. An additional
$212 million was to write off debt.
The heart of the request was $1.15 billion in new
reconstruction funds.
A week later, Clinton touted that figure in front of
representatives of 50 nations at the U.N. secretariat,
the president of Haiti at her side.
"If the effort to rebuild is slow or insufficient, if
it is marked by conflict, lack of coordination or lack
of transparency, then the challenges that have plagued
Haiti for years could erupt with regional and global
consequences," Clinton said.
That was nearly six months ago. It took until May for
the Senate to pass a supplemental request for the Haiti
funds and until July for the House to do the same. The
votes made $917 million available but did not dictate
how or when to spend it. Without that final step, the
money remains in the U.S. Treasury.
Then came summer recess, emergencies in Pakistan and
elsewhere, and the distractions of election politics.
Now the authorization bill that would direct how the
aid is delivered remains sidelined by a senator who
anonymously pulled it for further study. Through calls
to dozens of senators' offices, the AP learned it was
Sen. Tom Coburn, a Republican from Oklahoma.
"He is holding the bill because it includes an
unnecessary senior Haiti coordinator when we already
have one" in U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Merten, Coburn
spokeswoman Becky Bernhardt said.
The bill proposes a new coordinator in Washington who
would not oversee U.S. aid but would work with the USAID
administrator in Washington to develop a rebuilding
strategy. The position would cost $1 million a year for
five years, including salaries and expenses for a staff
of up to seven people.
With the bill on hold, the State Department is trying
to move the money along by avoiding Congress as much as
possible. It sent lawmakers a "spending plan" on Sept.
20 and gave legislators 15 days to review it. If they
fail to act on the plan, the money could be released as
soon as specific projects get the OK.
"We need to make sure that the needs of the Haitian
people are not sacrificed to procedural and bureaucratic
impediments," Senate Foreign Relations Committee
chairman John Kerry told the AP by e-mail. "As we
approach nine months since the earthquake, further
delays on any side are unacceptable."
Asked when the money will actually come, State
Department spokesman Charles Luoma-Overstreet said the
department expects to start spending in the coming weeks
and months. He added that $275 million in "bridge" funds
were released in March and have gone toward agriculture,
work, health and shelter programs — not long-term
reconstruction.
Haitian advocates say that is not enough.
Jean-Claude Bajeux of the Ecumenical Center for Human
Rights in Port-au-Prince said this phase was supposed to
be about building semi-permanent houses.
"Where are they? We haven't seen them," he said.
"There is not much money that is being used. There is
not much work that has actually been done."
Of course there is no guarantee that the money would
lead to the successful rebuilding of Haiti. Many past
U.S. aid efforts have fallen short.
"I don't think (the money) will make any difference,"
said Haitian human rights advocate Pierre Esperance.
"Haitian people are not really involved in this
process."
But officials agree the funds could pay for new
approaches to make Haiti more sustainable, and
rebuilding projects could improve millions of lives.
The AP found that $874 million of the funds pledged
by other countries at the donors conference was money
already promised to Haiti for work or aid before the
quake. An additional $1.13 million wasn't ever going to
be sent; it was debt relief. And $184 million was in
loans to Haiti's government, not aid.
The Office of the Special Envoy has been tracking the
money delivered so far but does not know who got it. The
envoy himself, former President Bill Clinton, told the
AP in July and again in August that he was putting
pressure on donors to meet their pledges.
On the streets of Haiti, many simply feel abandoned.
Mishna Gregoire, 22, said she was happy when she heard
about the donors conference. But six months later she is
still in a tarp city with 5,000 other people, on a
foul-smelling plaza in the Port-au-Prince suburb of
Petionville.
"I thought it was something serious they were really
going to do," Gregoire said, standing amid tarps torn
apart by the sudden storm. "But nothing has been done.
And I don't think anything will be done."
___
Katz reported from Port-au-Prince and Mendoza from
Santa Cruz, Calif.