28347: Durban (comment): On Sprague's Oil Reserves and School Transport (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Durban <lpdurban@yahoo.com> writes:

In Corbett 28243, J. Sprague commenting on discounted on Venezuelan oil
and public school transportation says:

   Once this (discounted oil) program begins with Haiti, it
   should allow for the new government to build up an oil
   reserve, slowing inflation....
   I'm also interested  to see if there will be a comprehensive
   plan to safeguard and reinvest in public school transportation,
   as many of the Dignite buses were demolished and sabotaged
   by the groups behind the 04' coup.

Haiti to build up an oil reserve?  You must be kidding.  Are you
proposing that the Haitian gov't earmark funds for tank farms?

As for those blue and white Dignite buses, well before Aristide left, I
stopped over at the bus depot of the government "Cooperative" which was
running those buses to see about chartering one.  I was appalled by the
huge collection of junk buses sitting in their lot; very few were
actually operable.  Those buses were not that old, but there had
apparently been next to zero maintenance and most were clearly never
going to run again.  My impression was that while there may have been
an interest by someone in government for importing those buses, there
had been no interest whatsoever in actually operating a sound system of
public transportation.

Sprague's interest in (presumably subsidized) school transportation is
touching, but I would suggest that maybe the Haitian government would
do better to make sure that there are some functioning schools to take
the kids to.  Public education in Haiti is pretty much non-existent as
far as I can tell, and buying another set of "public buses" is just not
a priority, IMO.

L. Durban