Opening of upscale hotels marks turning point in Haiti's reconstruction
Several hotels are scheduled to open or begin construction over the next few months in Haiti, raising expectations of the country's recovery from the devastating 2010 earthquake.
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While the Oasis hotel project was six years in the making, it benefited directly from post-earthquake reconstruction funds. Investors group SCIOP S.A. was awarded $7.5 million in financing by the World Bank's International Finance Corporation and more than $2 million by the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, headed by former U.S. presidentsBill Clinton and George W. Bush. The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund recently announced that it would cease operations at the end of 2012.
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The hotel opening comes at a time when the Caribbean country is struggling to recover from a difficult year that saw its fragile agricultural sector badly battered by more natural disasters, including Hurricane Sandy, which destroyed crops and sparked protests over the cost of living.
Following a recent visit, the International Monetary Fund released a statement on Monday warning that "heightened domestic political and social tensions - fueled by pervasive poverty and lack of progress in improving living standards - and natural disasters could impede the fragile recovery and constrain Haiti's growth prospects."
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