Haiti government seeks talks about reconstruction panel

Sixteen months after Haiti's devastating earthquake, many people are still living in tent cities

The new Haitian government has said it is open for talks on improving the international commission that oversees earthquake reconstruction efforts.

The call came hours after Prime Minister-designate Daniel-Gerard Rouzier told AP he wanted to replace the "dysfunctional" panel.

The commission, co-chaired by former US President Bill Clinton, has been criticised as too slow.

The agency was set up after the 2010 earthquake to assure foreign donors their funds would not be misspent.

In his interview with the Associated Press, Mr Rouzier called the 27-member reconstruction commission "dysfunctional" and said it would be replaced by a government agency.

"What I can tell you is that the [commission] as it exists today will not continue," he said.

"I don't mean to crucify the people who came up with the concept. But sometimes when something doesn't work you have to fix it."

He said he would like Mr Clinton, who is also a UN envoy to Haiti, to remain active in the country's reconstruction.

Mr Rouzier had said a government agency would replace the commission

"When you have someone of Clinton's calibre, this is a man of tremendous vision... We have to pick his brain and make sure that we have the right strategy."

Hours later, the office of Haitian President Michel Martelly issued a statement saying that he and Mr Rouzier were "very open and willing to begin discussions" with Mr Clinton and the international community to make the commission "more efficient".

The other co-chair of the commission is outgoing Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive.

Frustration

A statement from his office sent to the BBC said that in recent months the IHRC had "further integrated recover co-ordination functions with the government of Haiti's longer-term development plans in order to accelerate the progress of reconstruction efforts".

The countries that have contributed the most to rebuilding after the devastating earthquake, including the US, France and Japan, are also represented on the commission.

Mr Clinton has expressed his frustration at the slow pace of reconstruction in Haiti, but in January, one year after the earthquake, he said the speed of the effort was picking up.

A recent US government report criticised the commission for delays in its work.

The 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January 2010 killed more than 250,000 people, made about two million people homeless and wrecked large parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Sixteen months on, hundreds of thousands of people are still living in tent cities.

Mr Rouzier was appointed prime minister by President Martelly and is awaiting senate confirmation of his role.

Mr Rouzier is a US-educated businessman who runs several companies in Haiti, including a car dealership and an electric power company.