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An article by former International Rivers Washington Director Lori Udall on the planned World Bank financing of Arun III in 1995.

An English version of an "Earth Alarm" on Uganda’s Bujagali Falls Dam. Earth Alarm is the letter writing project of Friends of the Earth Netherlands. Bujagali Dam to Produce Unaffordable Power for Uganda  Construction of a dam on the Nile river is planned to provide power for Uganda. The IDA (International Development Agency) and the IFC (International Finance Corporation), both part of the World Bank, have been asked for a loan of more than $150 million for the project. The dam will cause natural areas to disappear, and consequences to fish stocks are unknown. Local peopl

Land and water are ecologically linked in a natural system called a watershed. From the smallest droplet to the mightiest river, water works to shape the land, taking with it sediment and dissolved materials that drain to watercourses and, in most cases, eventually to the sea. So, too, is the river a product of the land it inhabits––the type of rock and soil, the shape of the land, and the amount of vegetation are some of the factors that determine the river’s shape, size and flow. When these ties between the land and the river are broken by a large dam, the consequences are felt throu

INTRODUCTION Uganda is one of the world’s poorest countries, and its poverty is a key reason why less than 5% of the population has access to electricity. A World Bank study states, "No more than 7% of the total population [in Uganda] can afford unsubsidized electricity... It is unrealistic to think that more than a fraction of the rural population could be reached by a conventional, extend–the–grid approach. A more promising course is to rely instead on ’alternative,’ ’non–conventional’ approaches to electrification."1 And yet, the IFC is now evaluating a 250 megawatt2 hydrop

ASSESSMENT OF A RANGE OF AVAILABLE ALTERNATIVES The assessment’s goal of looking at projects that are "appropriate for development of the Uganda National Network" may be too limiting. Perhaps a more appropriate goal, given that the Ugandan grid is highly inefficient and only covers 5% of the population, would have been to look at projects that would bring energy services to more Ugandans. This would have opened the assessment to analyzing all of Uganda’s options, rather than just hydropower on the Victoria Nile. The assessment team "reviewed available reports," but does not appear to evalu

The U.S.–based AES corporation, the largest independent power producer in the world with assets of $11 billion, is currently in line to receive a partial–risk guarantee from IDA and loans from the IFC to construct a US$520–million dam near Bujagali Falls on the Nile. The dam would create a socially and environmentally destructive reservoir, and would drown the spectacular Bujagali Falls. Worse, the project’s power would not meet the needs of the vast majority of the country’s population. The IFC is currently appraising the project, and is expected to decide within six months whether

The proposed Bujagali Falls hydropower project in Uganda has suffered serious setbacks in recent months. In January the Uganda Electricity Board, Uganda's state–run utility, refused to sign the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) proposed by project developer AES, Inc. A month later the Uganda Parliament refused to approve the project, based on problems with the PPA. In February, the World Bank, which has been brought in to review the power agreements, slapped a one–year suspension on the signing of the PPA, according to the Uganda Monitor, Uganda's leading daily. Then on March 16,

A Memorandum to the World Bank on the proposed Bujagali falls projectby Ugandan NGOs. Dr. R.J. A. Goodland, Environmental Advisor At The World Bank P.O. BOX 7062 Kampala, Uganda The Save Bujagali Crusade (SBC) and the National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE) are honoured to meet you during your visit to the Bujagali Dam Project. For your information SBC and NAPE have been accepted nationally and globally as the leading environmental advocators in Uganda and East Africa against environmentally bankrupt energy projects and politico–corporate crime in the energ

Paper on Bujagali Dam (Part I) Released 02–17–99 CORPORATE CRIME AND THE CRAZE FOR HUGE HYDROPOWER DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IN UGANDA: THE ALTERNATIVES (Part I)Paper presented at the World Commission on Dams (WCD) Regional Consultation on "large dams and their alternatives in Africa and the Middle East: Experience and Lessons Learned" under the theme "Large Dams and Water Resource Management: Reviewing Alternate Options" held in Cairo, Egypt, from the 8th to 9th December, 1999 INTRODUCTIONThere is political and economic lunacy for infrastructure privatization in Africa today. In the area of

Falling for AES's Plan? Uganda Debated Damming the Nile Uganda is a lush, land–locked country tucked between the tropical forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the expansive, dry plains of Kenya and Tanzania. More than 20 percent of the country's surface is covered in water. Uganda is home to the world's second largest lake, Lake Victoria, as well as the source of the world's longest river, the Nile. In its more than 4,000 mile journey to Cairo and the Mediterranean, the Nile drops more than 4,000 feet. Over half of that descent occurs in Uganda, a fact which