Africa

April 4, 2001 Hon Darius Mbela, Chairman House Committee on Energy, Communications and Public Works Parliament Buildings, Nairobi Dear Honourable, RE: Public Hearing on Project Affected Peoples As you may be aware, the implementation of the above project has nearly reached the end of phase one and the project contractors together with the implementors are about to embark on the second and final phase. However, phase one of the SMHPP has unfortunately been marked by a series of controversies and valid grievances from the affected communities, and its implementation has been anything but smo

The Lower Kihansi hydropower project on the Kihansi River in Tanzania is causing significant environmental damage, a newly released World Bank report reveals. The Bank's Environmental Review states that the project is destroying a unique ecosystem and eradicating several endemic species. The report is causing worries among project donors, who fear the project may violate their own guidelines, as well as the international Convention on Biological Diversity. The Tanzania Country Director of the World Bank, in cooperation with the Africa Region Environment Group, decided to carry out an environme

In July 1995, the Government of Tanzania began construction of the 180–megawatt Lower Kihansi Hydropower Project (LKHP) in order to meet the growing electricity demands of its mining and tourism industries. The World Bank jointly funded the $275 million project along with the European Investment Bank and development agencies from Norway (NORAD), Sweden (SIDA), and Germany (KfW). Formally commissioned in July 2000, the project has been supplying electricity to the Tanzania Electricity Supply Company (TANESCO), the parastatal that owns and operates the project, since December 1999. With its 25

1. The projectThe Manantali project consists of the Manantali dam on the Bafing river, a tributary of the Senegal river, a 200 MW power station and a network of 1300 km of transmission lines to the capitals of Mali (Bamako), Mauritania (Nouakschott) and Senegal (Dakar). The dam is 1460 meters long and 65 meters high. It created a reservoir with a storage capacity of 11.3 billion m³ and a surface area of 477 km². In 1972, the governments of Mali, Mauritania and Senegal set up the Organisation pour la Mise en Valeur du Fleuve Senegal (OMVS) in order to promote irrigation, power generation a

I was given the opportunity to take part in the work of the World Commission on Dams, by contributing to the Thematic Review on Social Impacts of Large Dams. In speaking of dams in Africa, I naturally concentrated on what I know best: the dams on the Senegal River, the chief of which is Manantali Dam, constructed under the aegis of the Organisation pour la Mise en Valeur du Fleuve Sénégal (OMVS), and the associated irrigation schemes on the Senegalese bank of the river, overseen by the State development corporation for the river, the Société d'Amánagement et d'Exploitation des terres du D

BackgroundSondu Miriu River, one of the six major rivers in the Lake Victoria basin, drains a total area of 3470 kilometre2 in the Western part of Kenya. The river originates from the western slopes of the Mau Escarpment and flows through a narrow gorge, penetrating the Nyakach Escarpment. It then meanders into the Odino falls before entering the flood plains of Nyakwere where it drains into the Winam Gulf of Lake Victoria. Sondu Miriu HEP Project is located about 400 kilometres from the capital city of Nairobi. It covers six sub locations with a population density of 500 people per square kil

Jan Piercy The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20433 cc: Ruth Jacoby, Hasan Tuley, Torbjorn Damhaug Re: Delaying Board decision on Manantali Project Dear Ms. Piercy: I am writing to express concerns regarding the Manantali Energy Project, which I understand is coming before the Board on June 24. This project presents the World Bank with a great opportunity to follow through with President Wolfensohn's new "green top ten" list, which includes a commitment to "conserve and manage critical ecosystems," and to "be consistent with environmental and social assessment." Because of our

A statement by Save Mabira Crusade following the arrest of civil society leaders. On the 12th April 2007, the Save Mabira Crusade in fraternity with the general public comprising of all civil society organizations, religious affiliations, political orientations, academicians, students, traders, legislators, women and men of Uganda and the global citizens residing in Uganda conducted the largest ever peaceful demonstration by Ugandans in defense of Mabira forest. On the13th April 2007, the Save Mabira Crusade issued a press statement condemning in the strongest terms the killings, looting, maim

Bujagali Project Torpedoes Options Assessment for Uganda Local and international groups have been lobbying for a full and fair review of the various energy options available to Uganda ever since the Bujagali Dam site was first granted to the US–based AES Corporation in the mid–1990s. However, extensive efforts by NGOs to promote further analysis of energy alternatives have for years fallen on deaf ears at the World Bank Group, the project’s main backer. In fact, the Bank has actually subverted efforts to analyze non–hydropower options: it manipulated data to justify Bujagali as the "le