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Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

by Helen Chapin Metz et al

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<strong>Dominican</strong> <strong>Republic</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Haiti</strong>: <strong>Country</strong> <strong>Studies</strong><br />

Figure 13. <strong>Haiti</strong>: Transportation System, 1999<br />

National Highway Two proceeds south from Port-au-Prince to<br />

Les Cayes by way of Miragoane with a spur to Jacmel. Road<br />

travel outside these two arteries, which themselves had badly<br />

deteriorated by the mid-1990s because of poor road maintenance<br />

<strong>and</strong> lack of repair, is quite difficult <strong>and</strong> requires fourwheel-drive<br />

vehicles that are equipped to travel on the washedout<br />

roads that are especially common during the rainy season.<br />

In view of the condition of <strong>Haiti</strong>'s roads, the World Bank<br />

approved a US$50 million loan program for road construction.<br />

However, the loan program was suspended in late 1998 when<br />

auditors uncovered major irregularities in contract awards<br />

but only after the Bank had disbursed almost US$23 million.<br />

Subsequently, in January 1999 the Bank decided to halt the<br />

program altogether because of mismanagement <strong>and</strong> suspected<br />

corruption. A spokeswoman for the Bank confirmed that at<br />

least a US$6 million portion of the loan was declared a "mis-<br />

402

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