FERRIER, Haiti, Mar 4 (IPS) – Haitian President Rene’ Preval wants to redefine the terms of relations between his country and international lending agencies.

In an interview with IPS, Preval insisted the terms of this cooperation must be determined by the Haitian government – not the agencies.

He noted an absence of coordination between the government agencies charged with implementing projects or administering funds granted by the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). These agencies would be restructured.

The aim was to ensure they made an impact on the economic life of the population.

‘’These organisations must intervene as part of an integrated global development plan and not apply projects imposed by the international multilateral lending agencies, just to fill the gap left by the absence of any clear proposals.’’

Preval, who said he wanted to redefine ‘’a new state’’, insisted on the importance of the getting the population concerned with decisions taken on and in defining their needs and in implementing regional projects.

He deplored the fact that certain projects had been developed or financed without any real evaluation of the needs and an objective definition of priorities, but rather in accordance with political or sentimental criteria.

Preval said he was looking for ‘’new ways to reorient the interventions of the Haitian governent toward the priorities, so that the gap was not filled by offers, more often than not inapproriate, made by international cooperation agencies’’.

Interventions should be synergical and structural. While recognising the importance of social projects, he had a preference for projects in the economic sector which were capable of generating revenues.

Later, in a speech to an audience made up of representatives from Grassroots organisations, parliamentarians and local administration leaders participating in a forum on the problems of the northeast region, Preval said loans made to the Haitian government by financial agencies should be used to create wealth.

‘’If we persist in realising only social projects, how can we pay back the loans we have received?’’ he asked. ‘’I do not think that social projects are unimportant, but I believe we should carry them out with the wealth we would produce from having made economically viable investments.’’

Financing of social projects by the suppliers of funds would not facilitate the beneficiaries achieving independence, said Preval.

Members of parliament belonging to the ruling Lavalas Party who were present during Preval’s tour of the north east questioned him on the size of a project financed by the Unit of Coordination and Managemennt (UCG) as part of an emergency reconstruction programme financed by the IDB.

‘’We have to call into question the UCG interventions on the parliamentary level. In fact, many projects on its list are not actually being implemented,’’ Jose’ Joseph, a deputy belonging to the Lavalas Party, told the president.

Another parliamentarian asked Preval to fix a date for ending the emergency programme, so that a durable development plan could be formulated.

Agricultural minister in the outgoing government, David Nicols, admitted that the role of state organisations had been neglected to the benefit of the intervention of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in many projects.

Hundreds of projects have been parachuted down into a region without them having any relation to the needs of the peasants, and carried out by some 60 NGOs backed by the international lending agencies, Nicols admitted.

In his appeal to control the acrivities of the NGOs, he estimated that the reestablishment of the authority of the state mentioned by President Preval would not be effective without drawing up a national development plan. (END/IPS/IMC/TT/96)

Origin: Amsterdam/HAITI-ECONOMY/ ----

[c] 1996, InterPress Third World News Agency (IPS) All rights reserved

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