The ongoing process of recovery on the Caribbean island of Haiti has been given a boost following the unveiling of plans for a new hotel.

Sponsored by Argentine entrepreneur Rolando Gonzalez-Bunster, the 240-room hotel will be situated adjacent to Port-Au-Prince’s Toussaint L’Ouverture International Airport.

Pictured: Haitian capital Port-Au-Prince was hit by the quake

Scheduled to break ground by the end of 2010, the project will take 18-months to complete and will be Haiti’s first airport hotel.

The as yet unnamed property will be independently operated.

“We recognise the importance of having facilities that can house individuals during the rebuilding process,” said Mr Gonzalez-Bunster, whose holdings include energy investments in neighbouring Dominican Republic.

“It is currently extremely challenging to secure accommodations since so much of the infrastructure was decimated by the earthquake.”

Haiti Earthquake

Haiti was struck by an earthquake in January this year, with the loss of 250,000 lives. Some 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings also collapsed or were severely damaged during the incident, which was centred on the town of Léogâne.

The new hotel is the latest step in the recovery process.

The fully-enclosed, $33 million project will be developed on a 5.3 acre parcel of land and will be completely self-contained, with on-site power plant, water treatment, sewage, and related facilities.

Construction will be achieved through a combination of standard construction methods and pre-fabricated processes. 

The property will feature full conference facilities with capacity to accommodate up to 400 individuals for a single event. 

“Our goal is to encourage long-term sustainable investment in Haiti,” noted former American president Bill Clinton, UN Special Envoy to Haiti and co-chair of the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission (IHRC). 

“An adequate network of hotels is crucial to the country, and this venture is one example that the numerous facets needed to rebuild Port Au Prince are slowly getting under way.”