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dam-l Epupa meeting delayed

This is from The Namibian, June 25.


>     Epupa meeting postponed
>
>     CHRISTOF MALETSKY
>
>     A MEETING of the Namibia-Angola Permanent Joint Technical
>     Commission scheduled to be held in Windhoek this week to make
>     proposals on the Epupa dam project has been postponed to early
>     next month.
>
>     According to Director of Energy in the Ministry of Mines and
>     Energy, Paulinus Shilamba, the meeting was deferred because of
>     the unavailability of members from both teams.
>
>     Shilamba told The Namibian that the meeting had now been set for
>     July 6 to 8 and will serve as a final meeting before the PJTC
>     makes recommendations to the two Governments on whether or not to
>     proceed with the construction of the controversial Epupa
>     Hydropower scheme in Kunene.
>
>     However, sources believe that the meeting might well not take
>     place as a decision had already been taken at Government level to
>     push ahead with construction at the large dam site at Epupa falls
>     and that an undisclosed amount of funding had been secured.
>
>     Earlier the Namibian Government denied the funding claims through
>     Shilamba.
>
>     However, the Mines official said at the time that they had been
>     "inundated" with calls from as far as the United States and
>     Europe by financial institutions who wanted to fund the dam
>     project. But, according to Shilamba, prospective investors had
>     been told to wait until a final decision had been made.
>
>     Nonetheless, well-placed sources maintain that a political
>     decision on the project was taken long ago and that the Namibian
>     Government had also long decided on the option of the larger
>     Epupa site.
>
>     The Epupa site appears to be viewed as the more "prestigious"
>     site by the Namibian Government and was a controversial inclusion
>     in the final feasibility study after consultants had recommended
>     Site E in the Baynes mountains as the only option to be
>     investigated further.
>
>     The decision to include the Epupa site cost taxpayers of both
>     countries an additional N$3 million, with the cost split between
>     the two.
>
>     The Baynes site was seen by Government as too small, despite its
>     environmental and social impact advantages compared to other
>     potential sites.
>
>     It is some 40 kilometres downstream from the Epupa falls and
>     would have less negative social and environmental impact than the
>     other sites.
>
>     The Epupa site is seven kilometres downstream from the falls and
>     is likely to displace some 700 Himba people. The area flooded at
>     the Baynes site would be 94sq kilometres while Epupa would cover
>     over 250 sq kilometres.
>
>     Earlier the PJTC had said that the two sites had been chosen
>     because "it was difficult to compare, at this stage of the study,
>     the environmental benefits of Baynes with its economic
>     disadvantages under certain conditions".
>
>     The PJTC said the Epupa site offered excellent technical
>     conditions compared to Baynes which would have smaller water
>     storage capacity. It would also be less dependent on the Gove dam
>     in Angola.
>
>     The feasibility study said both sites were equal when technical
>     factors were assessed.
>
>     The consortium of consultants responsible for the feasibility
>     study, pinpointed Baynes as the best option in October 1996.
>
>     In their view the Baynes site would prove to be economically and
>     financially viable. "The unmitigated environmental problems are
>     believed to remain within reasonable scientific margins from an
>     international planning perspective," the consultants said.
>
>     At the time environmentalists expressed fears that the decision
>     to include the Epupa site indicated that the feasibility study
>     was merely a procedural exercise and that the two governments had
>     already decided to build the dam no matter what the outcome of
>     the study.
>
>     June 25, 1998
>
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>Steve Rothert
>International Rivers Network
>Okavango Liaison Group
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