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Stevan Jackson (202) 458 5054 Sjackson@worldbank.org WASHINGTON, August 4, 2006 – The World Bank’s Board of Directors late yesterday approved a $6 million grant to help reduce electricity losses and strengthen the financial and operational performance of Electricité d’Haïti (EDH), the public electricity utility. This pilot project will lay the foundation for improving electricity services and enhancing revenue collection in urban centers. “Haitian communities deserve a more reliable electricity supply with better client service,” said Caroline Anstey, World Bank Country Director for the Caribbean. “This pilot project will contribute to improving the commercial system and customer service and increasing revenue collection for EDH.” The pilot Electricity Loss Reduction Project will implement three components over a three year period: - Improve the quality and reliability of services and increase revenue collection of EDH
- Improve EDH management systems and practices towards a more customer oriented approach.
- Enhance the participatory approach, project management, monitoring and impact evaluation, with a view to future scaling up.
“Electricity services reach only a small fraction of the Haitian population, and are of poor quality and often unreliable,” said Clemencia Torres de Mästle, World Bank Senior Regulatory Economist and Task Team Leader for the project. “Less than 10 percent of the Haitian population has access to electricity and those who have access received on average 10 hours of electricity a day in the last two years, with very large disparities among the areas covered.” The Bank’s grant financing is an integral part of a multi-donor coordinated strategy of support to the energy sector. The Bank’s activities in Haiti are outlined in a Transitional Support Strategy (TSS) prepared in 2004 and endorsed by its Board in January 2005. The TSS presents the Bank’s two-year program aimed at delivering hope to the population and restore credibility in public institutions by helping the Interim Government provide basic services, create jobs, and launch reforms that promote longer-term economic governance and institutional development. The Bank is committed to a long-term engagement in Haiti. This project was made possible by an International Development Association (IDA)-funded grant of US$6.0 million and a contribution of Electricité d’Haïti (EDH) in the amount of US$1.47. -###- For more information on this project, please visit the project web site. For more information on the World Bank’s work in Haiti, please visit http://www.worldbank.org/ht |
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