The Peninsula Pilot Project: A Peninsula That Cannot Be Ignored

The paper presents the Peninsula Pilot Project of the Forum Économique de la Péninsule du Sud (FEPS). It was written by Alin L. Hall, founder of the Groupe Consultatif de Support de la Péninsule Sud (GCSP), and is dated November 4, 2023 in Les Cayes. It proposes a Peninsula Development Authority and an economic zone over the Région des Palmes (Léogâne, Gressier, Grand-Goâve and Petit-Goâve) and the Sud-Est, Nippes, Grand'Anse and Sud departments, presented as a destination for relocating and vertically integrated firms close to the United States and the Panama Canal.

The Authority would act through five supporting bodies, among them a financing agency able to issue bonds, and the paper calls for laws on the Authority, the economic zone, public-private partnerships and capital markets, including a securities commission and a Haitian stock exchange. The pilot would run through three successive five-year plans, the first covering 2025-2030. Financing would come from a Peninsula investment fund seeking US$4 billion in committed capital, a US$5 million technical assistance facility, bond issues and political-risk guarantees from MIGA and the US DFC.

The flagship projects include eight hydropower sites with stated capacities and costs, an international air cargo and passenger center, transshipment ports, at least ten wholesale agricultural markets, industrial parks, gender-equity measures and housing. The text describes the Forum as the voice of the peninsula's civil society, diaspora, private sector, universities and 59 municipalities. A disclaimer on page 6 states that the data may be inaccurate or out of date.