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dam-l PR: Huge International Support For Maheshwar Dam Protestors

PRESS RELEASE
Monday, May 11, 1998
Patrick McCully
Campaigns Director
(510) 848-1155

DECLARATION SHOWS HUGE INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT FOR MAHESHWAR DAM PROTESTORS

Renowned Indian social activist Ms Medha Patkar will today present a
declaration in support of the struggle against the Maheshwar Dam to Mr
Digvijay Singh, Chief Minister of the central Indian state of Madhya
Pradesh. The presentation will be made during a visit Singh is making to
the dam site, the scene of recent police violence against thousands of
peaceful protestors.

The declaration is endorsed by 186 environment, human rights, women's and
labor organizations from India and 35 other countries. Medha Patkar is the
leading activist in the Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save the Narmada Movement)
and one of 12 commissioners on the newly created World Commission on Dams.

The Maheshwar Declaration is being sent to the heads of all government
agencies, banks and companies involved in the controversial Maheshwar
hydropower project including Indian corporation S.Kumars, Swiss-Swedish
multinational ABB and German multinational Siemens. The Declaration calls
on these entities to commit to only supporting the dam if an independent
review concludes that it should be built, and if the affected people agree
with this conclusion.

In a Friday, May 8, letter to the Narmada Bachao Andolan, Dennis Quinn,
Vice President of Oregon-based PacifiCorp Development Company, announced
that his company "do not intend to participate further in the [Maheshwar]
project". Quinn continues that if PacifiCorp were to reevaluate the project
in the future, "it would only be under the condition that the needs of the
mass of affected people be properly addressed and consensus regarding how
the Project proceeds is reached by all stakeholders, including Narmada
Bachao Andolan."

PacifiCorp had been expected to hold or underwrite nearly half the shares
in the project company.

The Declaration notes that the dam, being built across the Narmada River,
would displace 2,200 families and harm the livelihoods of thousands more.
Project critics have challenged the economic and technical viability of the
dam.

Following a year of protests by local people, the Madhya Pradesh government
announced on January 30, 1998, that it would suspend construction on the
dam pending a comprehensive review of its costs, benefits and alternatives.
This commitment was broken when work restarted at the site in early April.

For more information:

Patrick McCully, IRN, Berkeley, California +1 510 848 1155
Shripad Dharmadhikary, NBA, India +91 265 382232

International Rivers Network is a non-profit organization which promotes
the rights of communities around the world affected by river development
projects.


************************************
                        Patrick McCully
                        Campaigns Director
                        International Rivers Network
                        1847 Berkeley Way
                        Berkeley, CA 94703, USA
                        Tel. 510 848 1155
                        Fax. 510 848 1008
                        http://www.irn.org