HAITI REBUILDING PROPOSAL

The island of  Hispaniola, shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, is seismically active and has a history of destructive earthquakes. A catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurred on January 12, 2010. Its epicenter was near Leogane, approximately 25 km (16 miles) west of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti.

Due to the total devastation of the country’s buildings and roads infrastructure in both urban and rural areas, it is imperative to initiate immediate comprehensive planning, design and mobilization for rebuilding Haiti’s urban and rural communities. Our building efforts will be based on:

• Development of a rebuilding model that will provide self-sufficiency training of Haitians and equip them with skill sets to construct more stable buildings throughout the development of new communities.
• Development of island-wide design standards and documentation for disaster resistance, energy efficient, sustainable and environmentally sensitive design and construction of new housing developments in areas other than Port-au-Prince.

Employment and training of Haitians and Dominicans in the restoration, recycling and usage of local building materials and resources. Integral to this training will be an emphasis on the dangers/vulnerability of building to the old standards.

• Fostering a better economic and human resource cooperation between Haiti and the Dominican Republic in areas of shared interest including housing and community development.
• Development and establishment of building standards that will help the Haitian government increase the overall quality of building construction, specifically in communities other than Port-au-Prince.
• Processing, packaging,  recycling and delivery of natural resources, food and building materials.

In addition, our building efforts will be based on a comprehensive assessment of the lessons learned from the Sri Lanka Tsunami reconstruction efforts including, but not limited to:

• Demolition and recycling of building materials.
• Implementation of financial and economical aid  tracking system.
• Land registration and ownership issues.

This proposal identifies Phase I of a two-phase approach. The initial phase includes the immediate execution of  planning through construction mobilization during a six
month period.

The detailed long-term  proposal is scheduled to be developed at the four month stage of Phase I. This will afford the opportunity to include an updated, real-time inclusion of Phase I progress into the long-term planning. And to obtain the appropriate approvals from the Haitian government regarding the long-term construction plans.

Our operations will include the acquisition, evaluation and studying of initial data to be used for the design standards (i.e. geographical, topographical, geotechnical, aerial and land documentation, etc.).

The results of our studies will be used to develop design standards for construction of housing that incorporates the latest construction methods for disaster resistance, energy efficient, environmentally sustainable (“green design”) and storm water management concepts specifically for new communities and public spaces.

During our study and assessment period, we will also establish  an initial training program for key lead construction training personnel critical for subsequent employment outreach efforts at the grassroots level in Haiti and in the DR.

Our Phase II proposal will be a long-term permanent plan for design and construction that will facilitate the conversion of temporary housing into long-term housing
and public spaces.

Once these sites are selected, our initial construction implementation will include the strategic location of construction field offices at these sites. These sites will also contain the actual construction of building foundation prototypes that will be used for temporary housing and subsequent long-term housing.     

Construction of full scale building model sections to be used for testing, studies and training in a secure environment will be critical to our overall construction program.

Our construction program will be led by Phoenix Contractors, Inc. Phoenix is owned, operated and staffed with Haitian born construction professionals who have positive working relationships with the Haitian government. Phoenix employees are fluent in Haitian Creole, French and English and know the geographic, cultural and political terrain of Haiti and the DR.  

At the conclusion of the Phase I six month period, we will achieve the following accomplishments:

• Implementation of a comprehensive information  technology system that tracks, documents and distributes critical project information and financial  reporting requirements to funding and governmental stakeholders. 
• Development and implementation of a building construction and food service training program that provides self-sufficient skills to Haitians and Dominicans. 
• Establishment of new disaster resistant, energy efficient, environmentally sustainable design and building construction standards.
• Development of improved building construction systems that affords Haitian residents the opportunity to build new communities using self-sufficient techniques.
• Training of local residents to implement long-term usage of local natural resources to increase the availability of sustainable building materials.
• Starting new community development with a focus on construction of new housing and interconnecting public spaces. This will offer the opportunity to locate government facilities in less centralized and less congested areas.