Int'l donors pledge $3.8bn to fund Haiti reconstruction

Delegates of 28 countries at the preparatory committee for Haiti donors summit have pledged $3.8 billion to the quake-devastated nation for reconstruction.

"Donor countries and multilateral organizations on Wednesday approved a 3.8-billion-dollar fund the government of Haiti will receive over a period of 18 months," said the Dominican Republic's Minister of Economy Temistocles Montas in the Dominican capital.

“A governing committee integrated by Haiti's Government and the donors will administer the fiduciary fund, with the World Bank as an overseeing agent," said a statement issued in Santo Domingo on Wednesday.

At the meeting, which was jointly chaired by Haitian Prime Minister Jean Max Bellerive and The Dominican Republic's President Leonel Fernandez, the participants decided to add another $350 million to shore up Haiti's state budget.

Meanwhile, the Haitian government has estimated that the country requires $11.5 billion to rebuild after January's 7.0-magnitude earthquake ruined the impoverished Caribbean state.

Haiti's Tourism Minister Patrick Delatour said Tuesday the amount is only a rough estimate of the funds needed to completely reconstruct the nation.

However, details of the reconstruction plan, known as the Preliminary Damage and Needs Assessment, will be discussed at a major conference on Haiti due to be held at the end of March in New York.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121096§ionid=351020706.