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dam-l WBank response to EDF/IRN letter
The following is a letter from the World Bank task manager for the Lesotho
Highlands Water Project. It is in response to a letter by Lori Pottinger of
IRN and Korinna Horta of EDF re: urgent compensation problems, which was
sent to the Bank on Nov. 6. and was a recent listserv mailing.
November 10, 1998
Dear Mmes. Pottinger and Horta:
Re: Lesotho Highlands Water Project
Thank you for your letter of November 6, 1998, which raises your concerns
about the implementation of the LHWP. We are sending a supervision mission
to Lesotho next week to assess the situation on the ground and review the
status of the LHWP. As part of its regular review of the social and
environmental aspects of the project, the mission will look carefully at
the issues you raised on the compensation to project affected people. After
detailed consideration of all the facts, we believe that the best way
forward to resolving any pending issue would be to work out an action
program enlisting the cooperation of all parties involved, including local
NGOs.
Regarding the second point you raised regarding LHWP and sustainable
development, we concur that it requires a thorough analysis of all the
project activities and the context within which they are undertaken. In our
view, such analysis, including lessons learned, would be best initiated as
part of the preparation of the Implementation Completion Report for Phase
1A. We would start the preparation of this report in close collaboration
with LHDA around March 1999.
We look forward to your continuous cooperation in ensuring the successful
implementation of this important project.
Sincerely,
Arnaud Guinard
Task Team Leader
Water and Urban 1, Eastern and Southern Africa Region
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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