IPS: World Bank to Bill Its Victims

Kerry Miller (mailto:kerryo@NS.SYMPATICO.CA)
Mon, 29 Jun 1998 12:22:55 -0700 

Message-ID:  <3597E98F.4FF3@ns.sympatico.ca>
Date:         Mon, 29 Jun 1998 12:22:55 -0700
From: Kerry Miller <mailto:kerryo@NS.SYMPATICO.CA>
Subject:      IPS: World Bank to Bill Its Victims
To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU


http://www.oneworld.org/ips2/june98/20_58_081.html


World Bank to Bill Its Victims


By Abid Aslam
WASHINGTON, Jun 25 (IPS) - The World Bank, found by its own inspection
panel to
have botched one of the world's most ambitious hydroelectric projects,
is
offering to correct some of its mistakes - if its Paraguayan victims
foot the bill.


The Bank is drafting proposals to help resettle tens of thousands of
Paraguayans
whose homes and livelihoods have or will be flooded by the 67-km
Yacyreta dam,
according to officials here. The proposals would involve ''a mix of new
loans and redirected revenues'' from sales of the dam's electricity,
said Tony Gaeta,
spokesman for the Bank's Latin America department.


Under such a scheme, ''the Paraguayan people will be paying for damage
wrought
by Bank loans to Argentina,'' warned Dana Clark, senior attorney at the
Centre for International Environmental Law (CIEL).


Yacyreta straddles the Parana river on the Argentine-Paraguayan border.
Both
countries own the dam, partly financed with 1.8 billion dollars in
Argentine
loans from the World Bank and Inter- American Development Bank. Bank
staff, aware
of the problems for more than five years and under scrutiny for nearly
two years
over violations of agency policy, have yet to work out basic details of
the
package, according to internal sources. ''We're doing everything
possible to do
whatever we can, as soon as we can,'' Gaeta told IPS.


[...]
Yacyreta originally was expected to cost 2.6 billion dollars but recent
estimates
put the price tag at 8.5-12 billion dollars. It was built to provide
cheap
electricity for Argentina and revenues for Paraguay, which would sell
the power
to its neighbour. However, internal documents reveal demand for that
electricity fell 25 percent even before construction began in 1983, and
suggest
the project's costs may never be recouped. Meanwhile, 50,000-plus
people, mainly Paraguayans, have lost or face losing their homes and
livelihoods.
[...]





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