PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 13 (Prensa Latina) Haitian Minister of Public Works, Transport and Communications Rosemond Pradel today recommended investing foreign capital in the National Electricity Company (EDH) to reactivate the company that generated losses for the Treasury.
The incumbent, who ran EDH in the 1990s, assured Radio Métropole that this strategy could produce convincing results within two years and prevent the public company from going bankrupt.
According to the engineer, more than $1 billion is needed to reactivate the company and the state does not have the resources.
Pradel realized that the current production of the EDH is insignificant in terms of demand as the thermal power plants cannot operate due to the lack of fuel while the Péligre hydroelectric power plant is shut down due to the drought.
“E Power alone delivers 30 megawatts to the grid,” said the minister and promised a slight improvement in the next two weeks with the reopening of the Carrefour terminal.
Since early February, Haiti has been suffering from severe electricity rationing, and the company said the severe drought is keeping the dam’s levels to a minimum, affecting power generation.
Last week, EDH denounced vandalism attacks on the Carrefour-Feuilles substation that left the facilities out of service and the neighborhoods of Carrefour-Feuilles, Savanne Pistache, Decayette, Route des Dalles, Rue Capois, Place Jérémie, Magloire Ambroise, Avenue N, Turgeau, Pacot and Debussy.
The problem isn’t new, however, as many officials over the past few decades have believed that the HRE is a liability to the state because it only serves about 40 percent of the population and has irregularities in its collection.
And this despite the fact that only one in three Haitians has access to electricity for a few hours a day and this service is one of the most expensive in the region.
jcm/ane