(GBN ) — The European International Bank (EIB) has announced it will not fund the construction of the Gibe 3 Dam in Ethiopia, a press release from International Rivers, an NGO has said.
International Rivers, which is leading a coalition of environmental NGOs who are opposed to the construction of the dam in Ethiopia considers the EIB’s withdrawal of funding for the project as a breakthrough in their campaign to stop the construction of the dam.
In the release which was copied to ghanabusinessnews.com International Rivers said “the 1.55 billion Euro hydropower dam would devastate the ecosystems of Ethiopia’s Lower Omo Valley and Kenya’s Lake Turkana, and affect up to 500,000 people.”
International Rivers which said the announcement has been hailed by Friends of Lake Turkana, and Italy’s Reform the World Bank Campaign called on the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Italian government to refrain from funding the dam. The AfDB is the major funding agency of the dam.
The release indicated that the Gibe 3 Dam is being built by Italian construction company Salini, which received the huge contract without competitive bidding.
It added that the EIB financed the Gibe and Gibe 2 dams, conducted a pre-assessment of the Gibe 3 Dam, and funds the project’s Economic, Financial and Technical Assessment. The no-bidding contract, International Rivers say, violates EIB’s procurement policy.
In March 2009, Friends of Lake Turkana, a group of affected people in Kenya, urged the EIB not to fund Gibe 3 because the affected communities “could not withstand any more pressure on the little resources that we have”.
A meeting between the EIB and Friends of Lake Turkana was scheduled in Nairobi for next week, but on Wednesday June 3, 2009, the head of the EIB complaints office cancelled the meeting and informed the group that the Bank’s President had decided not to fund the project.
During the AfDB’s annual meeting in Senegal, Dakar May 13 to 14, 2009, the coalition of NGOs mounted their campaign against the construction of the dam calling instead on the AfDB to “in the meantime, help Ethiopia drought-proof its energy sector, diversify its energy mix, and tap its abundant renewable energy resources.”
2 thoughts on “Europe withdraws funding for Gibe 3 Dam in Ethiopia”
It is not a luxury for Ethiopian’s to have a basic amount of electrical power; it is a fundamental necessity to a poor country that suffered a lot. Ethiopia need electric power to grow its industries and provide 80 millions of it population with the power they need, The population of Ethiopia is growing so that the need for electrical power, It is Ethiopia’s right to do what is important to the general public, Ethiopia would not be allowed to have nuclear power plant and would not be able to afford its cost of running, thermal power is known to pollute the environment, and Hydro power is the best environmentally friendly solution to the energy crises Ethiopia faces, There fore Ethiopia should build its dam, move the 500 000 people who live there some other part of Ethiopia, why not if it benefit the great majority. The Rich countries want us to stay beggars for life, they do not want to see us industrializing our nation, we have no natural resources, industrializing the country is the way out of decades of poverty, The world environment is messed up because the rich countries are still polluting it, the global warming problem is still being ignored by rich countries, for those who are against Ethiopia building the dam, so go and tell your leaders to stop polluting the world. England is drilling oil in Falkland islands destroying many habitants, where are these people who complain about Ethiopia why do not they complain against England, because Ethiopia is so poor they think they can shit on us, go away you hypocrites, let our country have electricity. Stop your propaganda against our country, stop suppressing us, we know what is good for us, we need the electricity, we are tired of not having enough electrical power so leave us alone the so called international organization. The Europeans destroyed the world populations and the environment for centuries to be where they are to day, but now they are try to preach us stupidity. Our poor country needs to find ways to be economically self sufficient, we can not depend on rich countries to feed us forever, electrical energy is quite vital to industrialize a poor country and to provide ordinary people a better life LONG LIVE ETHIOPIA!!!!!!
I love to see this project to be completed and the people who live outside the cities to be electrified.
Say stupid to those environmental groups.
Weather they like it or not we will grow and develop ,whoever build it.
But the same time i will support those who fight to bring real democracy to the country peacefully not violently.
Gemeda