Construction of northern waste management center set to begin in June

CAP-HAÏTIEN — Construction of a long-delayed waste management center serving northern Haiti is now set to begin in June, according to project officials, marking a key step in efforts to address persistent sanitation challenges in Cap-Haïtien and surrounding communes.

ProPublic Sam, the company overseeing the $34.8 million waste management project funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IBD), said site preparation is already underway in Limonade.

“They’re cleaning now, so the construction of the center will begin in June,” Joaneson Lacour, executive director of ProPublic Sam, told The Haitian Times on May 5. “There was an urgency from the people as we were working on the project.”

The waste management facility is expected to serve Cap-Haïtien, Limonade and Quartier-Morin, for the next 25 years.

Lacour said construction will take six to nine months, putting completion on track for March 2027.

The announcement comes after months of delays that drew frustration from residents and local officials, particularly as waste conditions worsened in parts of the city. Cap-Haïtien demonstrators took to the streets and blocked two highways to demand road repairs, irrigation canals restoration and for cleaner streets from April 27 to April 30. 

An initial pilot waste management center was inaugurated in March 2025, but it has been full for over two weeks and when it rains, the ground is too slippery for garbage trucks to enter, Cap-Haïtien’s Mayor Angie Bell said.

Delays and pressure on the system that scrambles for a location to dump trash

The timing of the waste management center’s saturation and slippery ground is especially problematic as authorities roll out “Konbit Ayiti Zewo Dechè” (Haiti Zero Trash Collective), a nationwide sanitation initiative aimed at clearing trash from public spaces.

In Cap-Haïtien, dozens of residents joined the effort on April 25, cleaning heavily polluted areas like The Litoral along the Atlantic coast. Excavators loaded waste into trucks, which were later dumped into the pilot waste management center. 

But with the pilot waste management center being almost unusable, officials plan to dump trash near it.

“We don’t have a choice,” Bell said, noting the city is urgently searching for temporary dumping sites in Cap-Haïtien as well.

It remains unclear whether the cleanup campaign can continue at the same pace without a functioning disposal system.

The project, approved in 2018, only began initial development in December 2023. The pilot waste center was later completed in March 2025, but construction of the full-scale facility has yet to begin.

Lacour attributed the delays to administrative hurdles tied to international funding and repeated government transitions.

“Yes, we’ve been taking a long time,” Lacour said. “I’m working to provide something to the people. If someone else can do it, let that person do it. As for me, I will only be able to provide it when I’m ready.”

Project unfolds amid broader infrastructure challenges

The waste management center project is part of a broader sanitation effort, including the government’s “Konbit Ayiti Zewo Dechè” initiative aimed at clearing waste from public areas.

However, officials acknowledge that without a functional disposal system, cleanup efforts remain difficult to sustain. ProPublic Sam has been waiting for trash bins and plastic bags to arrive for over a year. 

The city currently has about 15 public trash bins — far below the estimated 40 needed — contributing to recurring waste buildup in neighborhoods.

Piles of garbage regularly accumulate in neighborhoods, contributing to flooding, public health risks and environmental degradation. Recent rains have further exposed the system’s limits, spreading garbage into streets and waterways.

On May 1, to prevent flooding, city officials dug an irrigation canal in Vertières, a neighborhood on the outskirts of the downtown area where the protest started. 

However, Deputy Mayor Patrick Almonor said that was done in vain unless the government starts a major dredging project that would require one billion gourdes, or approximately $8,000.

“Dredging is one of the most important things in the work here because the sea is higher than the ground,” Almonor said during an April 30 press conference.

“If there’s no dredging, the water won’t have anywhere to flow, so we would be wasting our time,” he added.

Long-term solution is still months away

Cap-Haïtien, which spans about 53.5 square kilometers, is home to an estimated 700,000 residents. The city’s infrastructure has struggled to keep pace with population growth, increasing pressure on already limited sanitation systems.

Once completed, the new facility is expected to significantly expand the region’s capacity to manage waste, with ProPublic Sam planning to introduce household collection services for a fee.

For now, however, officials say the city must continue relying on temporary measures while awaiting construction to begin. Bell said the long-term solution is resettlement. 

“We need to help the other communes develop more so they can welcome more people,” Bell said. “If we don’t look for ways to decongest the city, ways to make people go to other cities, it’s going to get to a point of no return.”

Until a permanent landfill is built, Cap-Haïtien’s waste will continue to pile up—highlighting the gap between short-term cleanup efforts and the long-term investment needed to solve Haiti’s sanitation crisis.

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