[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
dam-l Namibia consider Epupa referendum/LS
>From The Namibian:
Govt mulls Epupa vote
STAFF REPORTER
NEWLY promoted Minister of Mines and Energy, Jesaya
Nyamu, has said that a referendum on whether the
controversial Epupa dam should go ahead could be held in
the Kunene region.
"It is a democratic thing," said Nyamu in a recent interview
with German journalist Henning Hintze who works for a
public broadcasting corporation in Germany. "We have
contemplated taking this thing (Epupa) to a referendum" he
said. "This could satisfy skeptics from outside."
Nyamu was speaking before his appointment as Minister of
Mines on Friday morning.
The 380 sq kms planned Epupa dam has raised strong
opposition and has been rejected by environmental
organisations in a number of European countries and in the
United States.
Even though 26 traditional Himba leaders have signed a
declaration against the construction of the Epupa dam,
Nyamu said he was sure that the Government would win
such a referendum.
Confirming that a mitigation programme for the affected
Himba communities was not completed in the Final
Feasibility Report, Nyamu promised that there had to be an
agreement on this before the first construction work of the
dam could begin.
Regarding the financing of the enormous costs of the dam
Nyamu said he was confident that it would be possible to
obtain loans from banks. Nyamu emphasised that the
concerns raised by environmental organisations in overseas
were put "in a way amounting to interference."
March 29, 1999
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
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
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::