Sources tell The Chronicle that Governor Kathy Hochul may task former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to lead a trade mission to Haiti in the coming weeks.
Hochul wants Clinton to negotiate the sale of New York-made goods and services to the Haitian government, which is struggling following the assassination of the President last month followed by a devasting hurricane.
“Kathy knows we have the best construction companies in the world and the most innovative financers. New Yorkers can help architect the reconstruction of Haiti,” an operative with close ties to Hochul explains.
Clinton will be tasked with negotiating a $50 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to the Haitian government to construct thousands of miles of roads, sewers, schools, police stations, courthouses, and municipal buildings.
“Few people on earth have the global networks and capability of putting together a financing arrangement that could literally rebuild a country,” he says of Clinton.
It’s hoped that the loan would be paid back by allowing an established Western New York-based natural gas drilling company exclusive rights to develop the nation’s natural gas resources. A subsidiary of that firm would also act as the Nation’s household gas utility. Retail and export taxes on natural gas would fund the repayment of the loans, observers postulate.
Clinton will be expected to negotiating a contracting preference for New York-based construction firms. Hochul hopes that 65% of the $50 billion in construction contracts will be awarded to New York-based firms.
More than 40% of all construction jobs created will be held by Haitian nationals, the source asserts.
Nations that are found close to the Greater Antilles such as Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Haiti are estimated to be sitting on natural gas of about 159 billion cubic feet and oil of about 142 million barrels.
“If we develop both petroleums in addition to the gas — a policy question given concerns about carbon emissions — then Hillary Clinton can build a national healthcare system in Haiti,” he postulates.
Haiti is thought to have gold deposits worth about $20 billion. Companies such as Majescor Resources from Canada have already bought rights to prospect 173 square miles of the island for gold. Initial sample results have shown that there are areas with high gold concentrations.
The nation’s vulnerability to geological events such as earthquakes also means that the nation and its neighbors in the region where massive tectonic plates fault lines form deposits for gold veins which are presumably pushed up from the earth’s inner layers during geological events.
Haiti also has large deposits of limestone, copper, and marble.
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