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La Gonave is an island of the Republic of Haiti located to the northwest of Port-au-Prince in the Gulf of La Gonave. La Gonave is approximately 650 miles southeast of Miami, Florida.
La Gonave is 37 miles long and 9 miles wide and covers an area of 287 square miles.
Approximately 90,000 people reside on La Gonave.
There are many reasons why the Island of La Gonave is ideal for development:
- It is situated on the Windward Passage which is one of the world’s most highly trafficked energy sea lanes
- It is situated in the center of the Caribbean which makes it an ideal location to locate a cruise ship homeport to service the entire Caribbean from a single port
- It is a sheltered in the Gulf of La Gonave and protected by the high mountain ranges of the main island of Haiti
- Since it is undeveloped, it offers the opportunity to create the number one place in the world to do business and thus attract international development and create jobs
- It has a natural deep seaport on its most western tip that makes it ideal for the development of an industrial city focused on energy projects
- It is situated such that the Trade Winds blow across the narrowest portion of the island…. Ideal for wind farm development
- The savannah (least desirable land) of La Gonave is ideal for Jatropha farm development due to altitude and rainfall.
Haiti will be selling developers the right to use the land on La Gonave; however, the Haiti will remain the ultimate land owner.
No. The Republic of Haiti will retain ultimate sovereignty over the island and La Gonave will continue to be an island that belongs to Haiti.
Yes.
Yes.
Approximately 20 years.
The La Gonave Master Plan has been distributed to the people of La Gonave and thousands of people on La Gonave have signed a petition in support of the project. Additionally, many of the leaders of La Gonave attended the “Our Island Our Lives Concert” that started the New Haiti Movement which begins with the development of La Gonave.
The residents of La Gonave will have jobs, water, food, quality housing, healthcare and access to an education. The residents will be given the opportunity to live in the same villages where they currently reside except their quality of life will be greatly improved.
Every Haitian employee will be trained by their employer to not only do the job for which they were employed, but also trained with the skills to build a house. Additionally, every employer will be required to contribute to an education fund for the children of the employee.
Over a twenty year period, 214,000 jobs will be created on La Gonave. There are presently approximately 90,000 total residents on La Gonave. Thus, it will be necessary for other Haitian to be given the opportunity to work on La Gonave.
There will be 214,000 jobs opportunities created on La Gonave; however, there will be 1,500,000 support job opportunities created in other sections of Haiti. These 1,500,000 jobs will give Haitian everywhere to obtain a job within Haiti.
La Gonave developer’s will need to hire employees for a wide range of job types including but not limited to: administrative; academic, engineering; sales; legal; manufacturing; production; healthcare; hospitality; security; fire safety; sports; tourism; agriculture; maritime operations; supply, trade; procurement, government; and finance.
Approximately 1,700 regular jobs and 12,000 support jobs.
When the people of Haiti have jobs, poverty and starvation are reduced. 214,000 regular jobs will be created on La Gonave and 1,500,000 support job opportunities will be created in other sections of Haiti. Reducing poverty and starvation through the creation of jobs will stabilize Haiti.
The purpose of the La Gonave Project is to foster sustainable development on La Gonave through the utilization of renewable energy projects. The ultimate goal of the project is to: create jobs, attract investment, improve the quality of life and create revenue.
Creating an island community that is focused on sustainable development through renewable energy requires an energy company to lead the project that has the skills to manage the island’s renewable natural resources to meet human needs while preserving the environment. Sustainable development requires the ability to resolves the conflicts between the three pillars of sustainable development: economic sustainability; social sustainability and environmental sustainability.
The projects located within the Industrial City generate the magnitude of revenues required to subsidize island services and other types of minimal revenue generating projects. No other revenue source can provide this level of subsidy.
The Industrial City contains the deep seaport that permits further development on La Gonave in an efficient manner. Additionally, the Industrial City contains energy projects that support La Gonave development.
Green development has not progressed to the point where petroleum based projects are not necessary. In order for the island to be sustainable, it will be necessary to develop some non-green projects. About 95 to 98 percent of La Gonave will be green development; however, LGDA will minimize the impact of the non-green projects through isolating these projects from the rest of the island.
LGDA is a partnership between the Republic of Haiti, GRE and a Haitian company. LGDA will manage the island as a business to achieve its mission.
La Gonave is intended to be a master planned green island community. If developers are permitted to develop projects on La Gonave that are not under the management and regulations of LGDA, then these other island projects could and most certainly will devalue those projects that are developed under LGDA management. International developers will not come to La Gonave if this situation is permitted. It should be understood that if there are developers that desire to develop projects on La Gonave and these projects meet the standards imposed by LGDA, then these developers may present their projects to LGDA for approval.
Each developer will sign a contract with LGDA. This contract will identify the start date for construction and the date when construction should be completed. LGDA intends to offer developers incentives to complete their projects on time and impose liquidated damages when the developers that do not complete their projects on time. LGDA will not permit a developer to engage in land speculation. Developers who do not begin their approved projects on time will forfeit their rights to use the land.
Approximately 20 years.
The leaders of GRE were introduced to La Gonave about 10 years ago when they provided some preliminary master planning for the island. However, GRE has been focused on the development of La Gonave for the past three years.
48 billion US construction dollars would be spent over a 20 year period.
Approximately 7.5 billion US dollars are committed to the initial projects.
La Gonave is an island that has remained undeveloped for many years. This offers the opportunity to develop La Gonave as the number one place in the world to do business. This number one ranking will attract developers to the island.
- Developers have been more cautious in 2009 due to high volatility in the financial and credit markets. LGDA intends to mitigate this risk by initially targeting energy sector developers. Developers within the energy sector will be more likely to assume the risks due to the large profit margins that may be realized by them
- Legal risks will be mitigated by creating a civil dispute legal system that replicates international dispute systems
- Developers are highly concerned about Haiti’s poor ranking relative to its ease of doing business. LGDA will mitigate this risk by make La Gonave the number one place in the world to do business.
- Developers are highly concerned with their rights to utilize the land free and clear of encumbrances. LGDA is only an agent. The right to use the land by developers will be transferred to the developers directly by the Government of Haiti.
- Haiti is rates as a high-risk country for business development. Additionally, Travelers are warned against travel to Haiti. Many developers are not permitted to travel to Haiti due to these travel warnings. LGDA intends to mitigate these risks by providing the highest level of security on La Gonave through the services of Navarro Security. LGDA will work with countries that impose travel warning to at least remove them for La Gonave.
- Any potential delay in completion of the project creates the potential to negatively impact the revenue of LGDA. LGDA intends to offer developers incentives to complete their projects on time and impose liquidated damage clauses on those developers that do not complete their projects on time. LGDA will not permit a developer to engage in land speculation. Developers who do not begin their approved projects on time will forfeit their rights to use the land.
The Republic of Haiti will receive 30% of the profits generated by LGDA.
The Government of Haiti wants the people of Haiti to support the project; therefore, the project is being taken to the people for their approval. When the Government of Haiti learns that a large percentage of the people of Haiti support the project, the project will be approved.
The Government of Haiti will appoint directors to the LGDA Board of Directors that will manage the Island of La Gonave as a business.
Yes.
No. The developers of La Gonave will not have access to any mineral rights associated with La Gonave since they are not part of the agreement with the Government of Haiti.
No. Removing natural resources from La Gonave requires large equipment that will be readily noticed.
The island needs to have a balance of trade and be self-sufficient. The oil refinery will produce: the diesel fuel for machinery and generators; jet fuel for the airports; Bunker C fuel for the cruise ships; petroleum coke for power plants; asphalt for required paved area; steam industrial city and water for the industrial city. If it were necessary to import the aforementioned supplies, the Island of La Gonave will be less attractive to developers.
The oil refinery is created from mini-refineries. This type of refinery has much less impact on its surroundings. The refinery will be located within the industrial city and visually isolated from the rest of the island by the jatropha farm. Additionally, the refinery and industrial city are located on La Gonave’s most western tip thus minimizing any impact on La Gonave. The prevailing wind direction is from the east. This prevailing wind direction will carry the minimal emissions out to sea to the west thus not negatively impacting La Gonave or the rest of Haiti.
The proposed capacity of the oil refinery is three 20,000 barrel per day mini-refineries.
There are many reasons why the petroleum product tank farm should be located on La Gonave:
- La Gonave is situated on one of the highest trafficked energy sea lanes in the world
- La Gonave has a natural deep seaport on it western tip that can easily handle Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs). VLCCs in the shipping vessel of choice for Middle East Oil
- La Gonave is perfectly situated to provide petroleum products to the Caribbean and North America
- La Gonave could be utilized to transfer product to smaller vessels to pass through the Panama Canal
- The tank farm could be a petroleum reserve for North America, Haiti and the Caribbean
- The tank farm will stabilize petroleum prices on La Gonave and Haiti
- The tank farm provides more revenue for LGDA than any other revenue stream
- The revenue from the tank farm subsidizes other initiatives on La Gonave
Yes. La Gonave will require the best medical facilities available in the world. The plan is to create an eco/medical/tourism village that contains the top ten medical facilities in the world along with associated rehabilitation centers.
The LGDA Real Estate Division will establish the land values at the time of development. These land values will be confirmed by independent appraisers.
The Haitian Constitution requires that legal matters be resolved under Napoleonic Law. However, the Haitian Constitution does permit civil matters to be resolved under other forms of law. International commerce is typically resolved under English Law and under the rules and regulations of the International Chamber of Commerce.
When a crime is committed on La Gonave, low level crimes will be handled in a court on La Gonave while higher level crimes will be handles in the courts of Haiti.
When a civil dispute needs to be resolved, the LGDA Law Division will resolve the case and render a decision under English Law. All appeals will be directed to an International Chamber of Commerce tribunal in England and resolved under English Law.
La Gonave will have a very attractive consumption based tax system. The tax system will be at least 35% less that the corporate tax system of the United States.
Navarro Security of Miami will provide the security for all of La Gonave.
The LGDA Island Services and Security Division of LGDA will provide for these services.
The Industrial City will contain a Waste-to-Energy Plant that will dispose of all waste related to La Gonave. The waste will be placed into a chamber that vaporizes the waste and returns it to its natural element state. These elements are then sold for profit. Biodiesel and clean water is a by-product. There will not be any land fills on La Gonave since all waste will be eliminated in the Waste-to-Energy Plant without pollution.
The Skyweb Express will provide a private, 0 carbon footprint, secure, comfortable and green island transportation system. The transportation system will be the only form of public transportation between the villages, resorts, hotels and spas. Transportation within the villages shall be by electric cars. The residents of La Gonave will not be charged for travel.
The communication system for La Gonave will be wireless and state-of-the-art. Hurricanes will not be able to negatively impact communications. Developers will demand that the communication system be the best in the world in support of the island being the number one place in the world to do business.
LGDA will place a portion of the revenue generated on La Gonave in the LGDA Trust Fund. These funds will be utilized the various governments of the world along with additional funds to create infrastructure projects on the main island of Haiti.
The LGDA / Florida Initiative is a partnering relationship between LGDA and the State of Florida that would include the following:
- The creation of an organization in Florida to manage the initiative
- Implementing Student Exchange Program between students of La Gonave and Florida
- Implementing a Professional Exchange Program between professional on La Gonave and professionals with Florida
- The creation of a Trade Facilitation and Business Development that would promote trade between La Gonave and Haiti as well as business development in Haiti
- The formation of a “one-stop” entity that would encourage the diaspora to develop business on La Gonave and in HaitiImplementing a marketing campaign to promote La Gonave and Haiti
- Encouraging Florida cruise lines to engage in a mutually beneficial business relationship
- Promoting the development of manufacturing on La Gonave under the Hope Act
- Developing a reforestation program for La Gonave and Haiti
- Forming a Conservation Corps in La Gonave and Haiti
Yes. LGDA will work with any state or country to create a similar initiative.
The project has been delayed for nearly three years. The developers are becoming impatient. If the project is not approved soon, then it will be moved to Dominican Republic.
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