GAO slams USAID’s Haiti rebuilding efforts

WASHINGTON —  U.S. efforts to help rebuild Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake have been plagued by poor planning, delays and mistaken cost estimates that have forced many projects to be scaled back, the Government Accountability Office has concluded in a report released this month.
Of the $651 million Congress allocated for Haiti reconstruction to the U.S. Agency for International Development, only $204 million has been spent three years later. And much of that has gone to questionable use, the GAO found.
The GAO was especially critical of USAID’s largest reconstruction project, a $170.3 million undertaking that includes construction of a power plant, a port and an industrial park.