21919: lyall on Cost of Water in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: jedidiah <postmaster@lyalls.net>

The cost of water was virtually infinite for a while. That is,
unavailable at any price.
this was when the chimere lavalas shut down la ville and the
government turned off the electricity and the water. These were the
five days before Titids exit/vacation/kidnapping.

Today water is 5 gou for a 5 gallon paint bucket full. It was
probably 3 or 4 in January.
This applies to the 'popular' districts, where my mother in law buys
water in 5 gallon buckets.
How much is a truckload delivered to a middle class house? I have no idea.

I do know that the lavalas government spent the last 5 years
encouraging the conversion of mountain properties to mansions for
gros neg, thus eliminating more percolation zones, which supplies the
wells with water. No dams exist.

The only likely conclusion is that this 'interim' government is
unable to cope with the destruction that the "lavalas militants"
wreaked upon the country in a few weeks.
Merci Saint Jean Bertrand.

>Oxfam America (http://www.oxfamamerica.org) states on their web-site
>(dateline: April 30th 2004) that:
>
>"...Government agencies in Haiti are unable to deliver basic services
>to thousands of people in need. The cost of water has risen by at
>least 50 percent since February. ..."
>
>Does anybody else have information on the price of water in
>Haiti--presumably this refers to Port-au-Prince? If it is indeed true
>it is not very plausible why this increase should have been so steep.
>Haitians are not likely to sharply consume more, especially since
>prices of other basic commodities have risen sharply and available
>income therefore decreased. The only likely conclusion is, Latortue
>and the occupiers have failed to ensure that the basic needs of the
>Haitian population are being met and the de facto rulers and ruling
>classes are jointly engaging in schemes to profiteer from an already
>dire crisis. If Latortue did come out in condemnation of the
>skyrocketing costs of basic goods and submitted a plan to ensure that
>the basic needs of the Haitian populace continue to be met at least
>the way they were under Jean-Bertrand Aristide's watch, somehow the
>media seems have not reported on it. So essentially two questions
>here: 1. Has anyone information regarding the post coup rise in water
>prices and 2. What are the installed regime's answers to the severe
>crises that have befallen the Haitian people; aside from the
>worsening human rights situation?
>   .


-- 
J.David Lyall, or
     Jedidiah Daudi
http://www.lyalls.net/