[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
dam-l Forwarded mail...
Forwarded message:
From owner-irn-three-gorges@igc.org Fri Nov 21 17:36:03 1997
From: owner-irn-three-gorges@igc.org
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 13:56:40 -0800 (PST)
Message-Id: <199711212156.NAA08555@igc3.igc.apc.org>
>Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 10:15:24 -0600
>Mime-Version: 1.0
To: "undisclosed-recipients:;"@igc.org
>
>SWISS GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIZES THREE GORGES CONTRACT
>
>BERNE, Switzerland, November 20, 1997 (ENS) - Against much public
>opposition, the Swiss government awarded an official export risk guarantee
>to ABB's contract for the controversial Three Gorges project in China in
>late September.
>
>Today, the Berne Declaration (BD), a Swiss non-governmental organization,
>revealed that the government is subsidizing the guarantee fees to the tune
>of US$12.7 million.
>
>In August 1997 the Chinese government awarded a contract to the
>Swedish-Swiss ABB corporation for eight generators of the Three Gorges
>project. The contract amounts to US$143.1 million. On September 23, 1997,
>the Swiss Export Risk Guarantee board confirmed an earlier decision to
>cover ABB's Three Gorges contract with an official export risk guarantee.
>
>The Berne Declaration criticized the subsidy as "politically insensitive
>and shortsighted," and called for a revision of Swiss export risk guarantee
>regulations.
>
>The Berne Declaration is an advocacy group with 18,000 individual members
>in Switzerland. Through research, public education and advocacy work, the
>group has supported "more equitable economic, cultural and environmental
>relations between Switzerland and the countries of the South" since 1968.
>
>By law, the Swiss export risk guarantee (ERG) is required to be
>autofinanced. ERG fees are determined based on country risk, the amount and
>the duration of the guarantee.
>
>Studies by the Berne Declaration show that ABB was originally required to
>pay a fee of 15.8 per cent of the contract value for its Three Gorges
>guarantee.
>
>After much lobbying, the ERG board agreed to reduce the fee to 6.9 per cent
>of the contract value. The 8.9 per cent reduction amounts to US$12.7 million.
>
>ABB estimates that the Three Gorges contract will create 120 jobs for a
>period of six years in Switzerland. The reduction thus constitutes a
>subsidy of more than US$17,000 per person-year of employment. ABB had
>argued that the respective guarantee rates were much lower in Germany,
>Italy or Spain.
>
>Swiss ERG regulations allow the reduction of guarantee fees if
>extraordinary securities such as World Bank loans are provided, or
>according to (undefined) market conditions.
>
>But the World Bank has declined to finance the Three Gorges Dam project.
>The project was controversial even within the Chinese state and party
>apparatus, as the tumultuous vote of 1992 in the People's National Congress
>demonstrated. And China's country risk has deteriorated since the East
>Asian currency crisis broke out.
>
>Peter Bosshard, secretary of the Berne Declaration, said today, "A
>reduction of ERG fees which is not based on special securities amounts to a
>subsidy to ABB and the Three Gorges project. Given the project's negative
>impacts and the public opposition against it in Switzerland, this public
>subsidy is politically insensitive and shortsighted."
>
>The huge Three Gorges Dam will be the world's largest dam when completed.
>The target year for completion is 2009. It will dam China's longest river,
>the Yangtze, a thousand miles from the sea. The dam will rise 607 feet high
>and more than a mile wide. The reservoir behind it will extend for 370
>miles and will incorporate a system of locks designed to improve navigation
>in the interior of China. The power generated by the 26 turbines planned
>for the dam is expected to be 18,200 megawatts at peak load. The project
>will displace nearly two million people and flood many ancient Chinese
>cultural sites.
>
>American engineers visiting the project last month brought back a report of
>unstable geological foundations and insufficient precautionary planning on
>the Three Gorges project.
>
>In November 1996, the Berne Declaration had commissioned a study which
>demonstrated that respective public funds would better be invested in
>innovative technologies than in large hydropower companies. A subsidy of
>US$ 2.7 million could, according to the BD's study, create more than 500
>person-years of employment in renewable energy companies. "Subsidies should
>support pioneer sectors which are more important for the future of the
>Swiss industry than the Three Gorges contract," Bosshard commented.
>
>The Berne Declaration today called on the Swiss government and the ERG
>board to allow non-governmental organizations more input in ERG's
>decision-making process. As part of a postcard writing campaign, more than
>25,000 supported the BD position.
>
>---
>The EnviroNews Service | E-Mail: newsdesk@envirolink.org
>A Project of the EnviroLink Network | Phone : (412) 683-6400
>General Info: info@envirolink.org | Fax : (412) 683-8460
>
>To unsubscribe, send an e-mail message from the account you are subscribed
>Precedence: bulk
>Reply-To: newsdesk@envirolink.org
>Sender: owner-environews@envirolink.org
>Subject: E-Link: Swiss Government Subsidizes Three Gorges Contract
>message:
>unsubscribe environews
>
>EnviroLink is a member supported non-profit organization, for membership
>information, visit: http://www.envirolink.org/membership or call
>412-683-6400
>
>IF YOU WISH TO REPRINT ANYTHING WITHIN THESE ARTICLES, please send e-mail
>to: support@envirolink.org to request permission. All information contained
>within is Copyright (c) 1997 The EnviroLink Network unless noted otherwise.
>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 14:02:07 -0800
From: patrick@irn.org (Patrick McCully)
Message-Id: <v02140b14b09b9db96bb1@[198.94.3.47]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Precedence: bulk
Sender: owner-irn-three-gorges@igc.org
Subject: E-Link: Swiss Government Subsidizes Three Gorges Contract
To: irn-three-gorges@igc.org
X-Sender: patrick@pop.igc.apc.org