The office of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in Haiti, the Ministry for Public Works, Transportation and Communications (MTPTC) and Electricité d'Haïti (EDH) held a ceremony to inaugurate two Electric Power Projects, one in the city of Leogane with KOICA’s budget of USD 3 Million and the other in SONAPI Industrial Park with KOICA’s budget of USD 1 Million, on Friday, 20 July 2012. With this inauguration, the Government of the Republic of Korea officially handed over these projects completed by KOICA to the Government of the Republic of Haiti.

The inauguration were attended by the Minister of Energy H.E. Rene Jean-Jumeau, the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Haiti, H.E. Park Dong-sil, the Secretery of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Pierre Richard Casimir, the Mayor of Leogane, Mr. Alexis Santos, the Director General of EDH, Mr. Garry Valdemar, the Vice President of KOICA, Mr. Han Choong-sik and the Chief Representative of KOICA in Haiti, Mr. Oh Sae-chul.

First, the Project of Electric Power Recovery in Leogane includes the power plant site provided by the city of Leogane, three 700KW container-type generators, 384 circular-type concrete poles, 25 km long aluminium wires and 90 distribution transformers. KOICA experts who belong to Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) have worked with EDH staffs to carry out this project. Also Korean Troops of MINUSTAH in Leogane helped level the land and drill and make a well at the project site. EDH is planning to start operation of Leogane power plant from the end of July, 2012. About 20,000 local residents in Leogane are expected to benefit from this project.

From left to right : Gu-ho JUNG, Lieutenant Colonel, Korean Troops of the MINUSTAH - Sae Chul OH, KOICA Representative in Haiti - Choong-Sik Han, Vice President of KOICA in Korea - Pierre-Richard CASIMIR, Secretary of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Dong-sil PARK, Amabassadeur of the Republic of Korea - René JEAN-JUMEAU, Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister for Energy Security - Garry VALDEMAR, Director General of the EDH - Georges Mangones, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Korea - Jules Rocheman, Administrative Director of the EDH

Secondly, the Project for Improvement of Electric Distribution Lines and Facilities of the SONAPI Industrial Park in Port-au-Prince will supply the Industrial Park with electricity of fair quality through an exclusive distribution line directly from Michel Arthur Volel (E-Power). The project is composed of the installation of one (1) 12.47kV feeder main transformer, 35 circular-type concrete poles and 5 km long aluminium wires.

This successful completion of both projects is expected to contribute considerably in improving Haiti citizens’ quality of life and to stimulate the economy by providing stable power to major public and industrial facilities. KOICA will continue to strive to become the best partner of the Haitian government and people.

HL/ HaitiLibre