About this project: The Emerging and Sustainable Cities Initiative (ESCI) is a technical assistance program of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) that helps intermediate cities and regions in Latin America and the Caribbean improve their environmental, urban, and fiscal sustainability.
Beginning in late 2013, the IDB’s Emerging and Sustainable Cities Initiative partnered with Haiti’s CIAT and the Ministry of Economy and Finance to develop urban and infrastructure development tools for the country’s Northern Development Corridor.
ESCI’s work focuses on the Northern Development Corridor: the area between Cap Haitien, Haiti’s second largest city, and Ouanaminthe, near the Dominican Republic. Home to some 600,000 people, the Corridor extends 70 km along Route Nationale 6 and is currently experiencing rapid growth.
The study area contains a number of flagship economic development projects that are bringing change to the region’s communes or townships. The Caracol Industrial Park (PIC), in particular, stands to bring an estimated 20,000+ new manufacturing jobs by 2040. Combined, the PIC and other infrastructure, agriculture, education, and urban development projects will spur demographic and urban growth.