Infrastructure
The international community had promised to dedicate 11 billion dollars to the reconstruction of Haiti. A little over a year later, about 1 billion dollars has been paid out, of which 359 million went into the Haiti Reconstruction Fund (HRF), under the authority of the Interim Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti (ICRH). The first projects for the construction of houses for the homeless have been announced, and three of these, with a value...
Léogâne - 29 km to the west of Port-au-Prince. First impressions are that nothing’s changed since last year. Tents, sheet-metal and wooden huts are still an eyesore in the birthplace of Anacaona, the Arawak queen famed for both her beauty and political insight and who was head of the Xaragua, one of the country’s five chiefdoms before the arrival of Christopher Columbus. It’s the same story in Jacmel, capital of...
Once part of the Swedish and - subsequently - the Russian empire Turku, a city of 177,500 people in Southwest Finland (300,000 in the wider Turku area), has grown at the side of the River Aura and become a thriving trading and cultural hub. The recognition of its vibrancy in the arts was the announcement of its status as European Capital of Culture for 2011, along with Estonia’s capital, Tallinn.
The Great Fire of 1827 which burnt down...
Sparse populations spread across wide swathes of the world’s largest ocean resulting in poor communications between them have held back movement of the region’s goods and people and slowed economic development and growth.
The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) has recognised such impediments to development. One of its earliest moves of the PIF was the Pacific Forum Line,set up by Pacific governments[i] in 1978 to meet their freightshipping...
Most visitors to the Caribbean are shocked that it costs just as much to travel by air between the tropical islands as it would to North America. Is there any choice?
More than ever before Caribbean nationals have been calling for improved connections between the islands, reduced taxes on travel and an informed policy on regional travel from Governments of the CARICOM[i] trading bloc. Several regional commentators have argued that one of...
The serious lack of transport in Sub-Saharan Africa is a challenge that the EU and Africa are tackling together, through their Partnership on Infrastructure.
This partnership provides a strategic framework to improve the interconnection of transport networks across the continent. It is supported by the European Development Fund through its traditional instruments – such as the National and Regional Indicative Programmes – and the EU...
A simple glance at a map of Africa is all it takes to be able to appreciate the scale of the challenge this continent faces if it wants to achieve endogenous development. Roads and railways are centred around major ports whose primary function is to export raw materials, while the few that venture further into the interior often terminate upon reaching mines. With the notable exception of South Africa, the transport networks of most sub-Saharan...
The 1945 agreements cut three cities in half and defined the new border between East Germany and Poland. What do the three of these cities have in common? They are all crossed by the Oder River and further south by its tributary, the Neisse. Since Poland's integration into the Schengen area at the end of 2007, allowing the free movement of persons, these three 'twin-cities' have increased their cooperation on joint projects....
“Satisfaction”. The word is on the lips of all Western observers following the referendum held to set the seal on independence for Southern Sudan. Yet some major issues remain to be resolved before it becomes the 193rd nation in the world to be recognised by the United Nations.
Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, expressed her “great satisfaction that the Southern Sudan referendum...
Beira, Africa's future gateway to the world
Beira, the second city of Mozambique, at the mouth of the river Poúngoè and near to the mouth of the Zambezi, has everything it needs to surpass the ports of South Africa and to become Africa’s greatest gateway facing Asia and the rest of the world. In an interview with The Courier, Cândido G. Jone, Executive Director of Mozambique Ports and Railways (CFM) provides a...
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