Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Haiti Rubble Removal Brings Big Business

The amount of rubble that needs clearing in Haiti could generate as much as USD1 billion in business for many companies specializing in debris clearing.

“I have heard the president say that based on what the engineers tell him, it will take 1,000 dump trucks working for 1,000 days to clear away the debris, and I am not sure even the experts know how big is the pile,” Leslie Voltaire, an architect and diplomat leading the initiative to plan Haiti’s rebuilding, told The Washington Post.

According to United Nations rapid assessment teams, the Jan. 12 earthquake has caused around 30 million to 78 million cubic yards of broken blocks, twisted metal and pulverized concrete. The newspaper estimated it would require as many as 8 million trips to finish the cleanup in Port-au-Prince, with a Mack truck hauling nine cubic yards of concrete debris.

U.S. contractors are now seeking local construction firms to find workers and secure heavy equipment as well as link with Haitian business leaders with connections to the government and international donor consortia that will underwrite the rubble-clearing efforts. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva also discussed the possibility of Brazilian companies providing rubble removal services in a recent meeting with Haitian President René Préval.

3 comments:

Abe breuer said...

We are a local New York based organization called ONE HOUSE HAITI focusing on the rebuilding efforts of Haiti, while in the same time providing comfort to the displaced people. I have just returned from Haiti last week and I could tell you that because there is so much money at stake with politicians and corporations fighting to get a piece of the pie that nothing has happened there yet. It looks like as if the quake has happened yesterday. Unfortunately the ones suffering are the people on the street that are getting injured and are constantly in harms way. It is therefore that we are putting together a mission of a few hundred pieces of equipment and hundreds of volunteers to return to Haiti to do the job as a non for profit effort. We will have the hearts of the Haitian in mind and not the profit. This mission is only to help the Haitian people and clear the path for a better Haiti, so we need HELP!!!! We need equipment volunteers and so on, visit us at onehousehaiti.org call us at 866-one-house.

Abe Breuer said...

We are a local New York based organization called ONE HOUSE HAITI focusing on the rebuilding efforts of Haiti, while in the same time providing comfort to the displaced people. I have just returned from Haiti last week and I could tell you that because there is so much money at stake with politicians and corporations fighting to get a piece of the pie that nothing has happened there yet. It looks like as if the quake has happened yesterday. Unfortunately the ones suffering are the people on the street that are getting injured and are constantly in harms way. It is therefore that we are putting together a mission of a few hundred pieces of equipment and hundreds of volunteers to return to Haiti to do the job as a non for profit effort. We will have the hearts of the Haitian in mind and not the profit. This mission is only to help the Haitian people and clear the path for a better Haiti, so we need HELP!!!! We need equipment volunteers and so on, visit us at onehousehaiti.org call us at 866-one-house.

Anonymous said...

Ron Jasmin
Yes indeed I have been in Haiti many times since the earthquake and I support the idea that it will take
that much time I hope to see Haiti is rebuilt soon