The Hotel Villa St. Louis was once a thriving business in Bourdon, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. With an opening date set for early 2012, the new Hotel Villa St. Louis is positioned to be Port-au-Prince’s first hotel to re-open its doors after being destroyed by the January 2010 earthquake.
A U.S.-based team of experienced hotel operators, designers and architects, NEF & JAM Associates, have come together to help the St. Louis family rebuild its cherished business, leading to hundreds of long-term job opportunities and, ultimately, a revived hospitality sector and economy for the once devastated community of Port-au-Prince.
“A new hotel with professional management, all in a strategic location and with all the necessary services, will appeal to the traveling businessman and guarantee a professional relationship with the travel agent community,” Nikolas Eastwick-Filed, principal of NEF & JAM Associates, told Travel Agent. “This will mark the beginning of a new era in Port-au-Prince Hotels.”
The new property will be reconstructed upon its original foundation on Avenida John Brown. Although the hotel originally consisted of 60 guestrooms and suites, the proposed new development calls for 78 guestrooms and suites, 22 extended stay studio suites and loft apartments, a fitness center, a business center and a boutique retail space.
Like the original Hotel Villa St. Louis, the new hotel will feature a full-sized restaurant and bar, ample banquet and meeting facilities and a spacious pool. Other modern upgrades will include energy efficient and water saving installations, renewable energy technologies and locally sourced building materials, furniture and décor.
For more than 30 years, the 60-room boutique hotel served as a gathering place for locals and tourists alike, hosting leisure and business travelers, small groups, reunions and weddings. But like many small businesses in the area, the hotel, along with the adjacent St. Louis family residence, was destroyed after collapsing in the earthquake of January 2010, and no insurance proceeds were available to rebuild this once flourishing business.
Because of the magnitude of the earthquake’s destruction, Port-au-Prince lost more than 50 percent of its hotel room inventory, and the economic impact has been tremendous. Business meetings and conventions have been postponed or moved elsewhere due to the lack of accommodations in the area, resulting in a significant loss of potential income across all industries.
http://www.travelagentcentral.com/haiti-western-hispaniola/haiti-hotel-destroyed-earthquake-re-open-2012-23199?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Friday, August 20, 2010
Des conteneurs-maisons construits par Vilaj Vilaj
Haïti: Lors d'une conférence de presse qu'il a donnée hier jeudi au centre de presse du ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, l'acteur, chanteur et compositeur canadien d'origine haïtienne, Luck Mervil, a annoncé le lancement du projet de construction baptisé « Vilaj Vilaj ». Une initiative de la fondation Vilaj Vilaj récemment fondée par cet artiste haïtiano-canadien, ce projet consiste en la construction de maisons à base de containeurs pour 25 000 personnes.Dans l'immédiat, Luck Mervil a annoncé la construction de 900 maisons devant loger 5 000 personnes, pour un montant d'environ 25 millions de dollars américains, dont le financement proviendra réseaux sociaux ou des « sept milliards de bailleurs de fonds de la planète ».
Par ailleurs, le chanteur s'est gardé de révéler l'endroit où ces maisons seront construites pour, souligne-t-il, « éviter que des gens ne viennent squattériser les domaines et y construire de manière anarchique ». Mais, la pose de la première pierre aura lieu au mois d'octobre prochain, a indiqué Luck Mervil.
Ces maisons en containeurs seront construites selon les normes parasismiques et paracycloniques. Des études pour déterminer les conditions sismiques et les risques catastrophiques de la zone seront réalisées avant le démarrage des travaux de construction.
Le projet « Vilaj Vilaj » vise à construire des demeures selon les normes pouvant loger cinq à sept personnes. Ces maisons seront aussi dotées de panneaux solaires, de système de récupération des eaux de pluies et usagées que les responsables projettent de purifier pour la consommation. Les déchets provenant des ménages pourront aussi être transformés en biogaz, en méthane. Le prix de location annuelle sera en dessous de 2 000 dollars américains.
Les travaux de construction seront assurés par des spécialistes haïtiens et étrangers. Les mains-d'oeuvre locales recevront des formations de la part de techniciens compétents, chevronnés et expérimentés « afin qu'elles puissent à leur tour construire leurs propres maisons ». Mis à par les containeurs, matériel de base, les maisons seront construites à partir de matériaux locaux, précise Luck Mervil, voulant respecter et préserver l'environnement.
Dans le cadre du projet, des infrastructures de base (routes, électricité, communication téléphonique) seront également mises en place. Il est également prévu la construction de marchés, d'écoles, de terrains de sport, de centres de santé... Lors de son séjour dans le pays, le directeur-fondateur de la Fondation Vilaj Vilaj s'est entretenu avec les autorités, qui, rapporte-t-il, apportent leur plein soutien à ce projet.
Le projet Vilaj Vilaj est, selon son initiateur, loin d'être une utopie. C'est une réalité à laquelle croit Luck Mervil. Le chanteur convie tous les Haïtiens à s'allier autour de ce projet qui sera basé sur la transparence dans les dépenses et le paiement des salaires du personnel.
Vilaj Vilaj, pour Luck Mervil, sera « le premier modèle de ce type au monde ». Son initiateur projette de construire d'autres villages un peu partout, en Afrique du Sud et en Amérique latine... Construits à partir des techniques modernes, ces villages différeront de ceux de France, de New York et d'autres grandes villes du monde, s'est vanté le promoteur.
Avec la construction de ces villages, Luck Mervil compte apporter sa pierre dans la reconstruction de son pays d'origine. En tant que porte-parole du Centre d'études et de coopération internationales (CECI), le promoteur avait collecté, suite au séisme du 12 janvier, près de 13 millions de dollars, offerts dans 26 pays soit par des personnes, soit par des organisations. Actuellement, Luck Mervil s'est démis de son poste au CECI pour se consacrer à sa fondation et à son projet de Vilaj Vilaj. Il a mis entre-temps en veilleuse sa carrière artistique. Toutefois, il n'écarte pas la possibilité de se produire en vue de collecter des fonds pour son organisation.
http://www.lenouvelliste.com/article.php?PubID=1&ArticleID=82686&PubDate=2010-08-19
Chenald Augustin
kabbaledessonges@yahoo.fr
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Haiti rebuilding not fast enough
PORT-AU-PRINCE - RECONSTRUCTION efforts after Haiti's devastating January 12 quake were 'not moving fast enough' for the homeless victims, a French representative said during a visit to the Caribbean nation.Pierre Dusquesne, France's delegate to the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission (CIRH), which met on Tuesday in Port-au-Prince, said he saw positive signs. 'Things are moving forward, we have a real plan for the development of Haiti, we have real coordination between donors,' he said. 'But it's a fact that for the people who are still living in tents, in makeshift shelters, things are not moving fast enough.'
Mr Dusquesne, who is responsible for economic issues related to Haitian reconstruction and development, is one of 26 members of the CIRH. The group, which comprises 13 foreign and 13 Haitian members, met for several hours Tuesday in Port-au-Prince during a session attended by Haiti's Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and former US president Bill Clinton.
'We approved some 30 projects and identified financing for them,' from programs to clear rubble from Port-au-Prince's streets, to the construction of shelters for those made homeless by the quake, officials said. 'Now we cannot say that donors are not keeping their promises. We have firm pledges of US$904 million to finance close to 30 projects,' Mr Bellerive said.
'We are not going to simply rebuild building, we are going to build a country, a state, a new economy. It's absolutely central and the CIRH is a means not an end, but it's working well,' Mr Duquesne said.
Ahead of the session, the vice-president of Boeing, Anna Roosevelt, announced the firm was committing US$900,000 (S$1.2 billion) to education in Haiti. The company has pledged $2.2 million in total for Haitian relief and gave $1.3 million to the American Red Cross for relief work in the country.
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/World/Story/STIStory_567913.html
Miss Haiti hopes to share beauty of her country with the world
The first Miss Haiti in 22 years is not the typical contestant you'd find in a beauty pageant. She is a young lawyer who speaks four languages and is happy to be able to help her country after the horrific earthquake that devastated the Caribbean nation last January.Sarodj Bertin had a privileged childhood in Puerto Principe until age 9, when her mother, lawyer and opposition leader Mireille Durocher Bertin, was gunned down after announcing the creation of a political party that would compete with that of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in the upcoming elections.
Her father then moved Sarodj and his other children to the neighbouring Dominican Republic, where the 24-year-old beauty, who considered her mother her idol, studied law and worked for the International Alliance for Haiti's Recovery.
Nevertheless, she was obsessed with the Miss Universe pageant. After the earthquake, she entered a contest, won and spent the last few months in Puerto Rico with the director of the Miss Dominican Republic and Miss Haiti franchises, Magali Febles, who took charge of her training for Miss Universe, to be held Aug. 23 in Las Vegas.
In a recent interview at the Miss Universe headquarters in New York, Ms. Bertin spoke with The Associated Press about the importance of her new role, how she expects to help her country and a mishap that would have been the end of the world to any other contestant: Her luggage with her entire Miss Universe wardrobe disappeared on a recent flight to Miami.
AP: What are you going to wear now that you have lost your Miss Universe wardrobe?
Ms. Bertin: The people of Haiti have been extremely supportive. They learned what happened and a few designers came to me and loaned me their gowns, bags, shoes. And I, I feel like the most special person in the world right now because they cared for me.
AP: You are a lawyer, you're studying for a masters, you speak French, Spanish, English and Creole, and you are learning Mandarin. You are not the typical Miss Universe contestant.
Ms. Bertin: The Miss Universe pageant has always been a dream for me, since I was a kid. I used to watch the contest and think, “Why is my country not participating? I want to see Haiti participating.” ... When I finished college, I gave up on the idea. I thought it would never happen. I thought someday ... I could celebrate the contest and send a girl myself. So when they told me that they were going to do it this year ... I trembled, I cried, I screamed.
AP: Some criticized the contest, considering it too frivolous, especially amid such a state of emergency.
Ms. Bertin: Everybody remembers Haiti in moments of crisis. ... I want them to see also the beauty that there is in my country, to be interested in giving opportunities to the young people. ... They should see it as a light, a hope.
AP: How do you think your participation in the contest can help your country?
Ms. Bertin: There are many people who want to help but don't know how and sometimes they need a voice to tell them what are the necessities of the people. I want the people, through me, to be who says what their necessities are.
AP: What are your expectations for the big day?
Ms. Bertin: Obviously, if I win I'm going to be the happiest woman. ... (But) regardless what occurs that night, my objectives are the same: work for my people.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/project-jacmel/other-stories/miss-haiti-hopes-to-share-beauty-of-her-country-with-the-world/article1675642/
Haiti presidential list delayed
Haiti's electoral commission has postponed its ruling on who will be allowed to run in November's presidential elections, leaving the candidacy of hip-hop mogul Wyclef Jean, and other contenders, in limbo.The decision was supposed to be released on Tuesday, but after a marathon session, the electoral commission decided to postpone until Friday the publication of the final list of approved presidential candidates.
At issue is a disagreement on the country's electoral law which stipulates that candidates must hold a Haitian passport and have five consecutive years of residence in Haiti, among other requirements.
More than 30 contenders are vying to replace Rene Preval, the current president, in the November 28 election and several have been scrutinised by the commission.
Al Jazeera's Sebastian Walker, reporting from the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, said that Jean "is having trouble making it clear that he had been a resident of Haiti for the last five years".
Prior to announcing his intention to run for president, Jean acted as a goodwill ambassador for Haiti, the country where he was born.
The New York-based singer said his role, working for the Haitian government, made international travel and foreign residency necessary parts of his public service.
Jacques Edouard Alexis, a former two-time prime minister and another presidential hopeful, and Leslie Voltaire, a US-educated urban planner and former minister, have also faced scrutiny from the electorial commission.
'Street support'
Some candidates who could be deemed uneligible, including Jean, "have significant support from the streets" and disallowing them to run "could lead to unrest," Al Jazeera's Walker said.
Jean, who left Haiti for the US at age nine, is popular with many Haitians, especially the youth, who see him a national success who never forgot his roots.
Several Haitian youth organisations and Creole music groups have undertaken to support his national campaign as a candidate for the Viv Ansan-m party.
The hip-hop star and three-time Grammy award-winner has, however, been criticised for lacking political experience.
"We await the CEP decision but the laws of the Haitian Constitution must be respected," he said in an email to The Associated Press news agency.
He also told the AP that he had gone into hiding after receiving death threats. Jean said he received a phone call telling him to get out of Haiti and that he was now in a secret location in the Caribbean country.
Preval, the current president, has been widely criticised in Haiti over his handling of the January 12 earth-quake that killed more than 200,000 people and destroyed much of the country's already weak infrastructure.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/08/2010818183714693940.html
Thursday, August 12, 2010
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