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dam-l 12 April 1999 NGOs protest against ABB's new Three Gorges contract



SSNC/BD press release, Stockholm/Zurich, 12 April 1999:

Swedish and Swiss NGOs protest against new Three Gorges contract for ABB

The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) and the Berne
Declaration (BD), two NGOs in Sweden and Switzerland, have issued protests
against ABB's new contract for the Three Gorges project. According to an
ABB press release of April 12, the company has received another contract of
$ 340 million to supply two converter stations for a high-voltage power
link from the Three Gorges project to the Shanghai area. SSNC and the BD
are committed to preventing the funding of the project by the Swedish and
Swiss export risk guarantees.

* * *

ABB has won a contract worth $ 340 million to supply two converter stations
for a 3,000 megawatt high-voltage direct current power link to transmit
electricity from the Three Gorges project to the Shanghai area. In August
1997, ABB had already won an order of $ 250 million to supply eight
generators to the same project. The financing of the latest contract will
be organized by a banking consortium including ANZ, Associete Generale, and
Indo-Suez. The Swedish export risk guarantee EKN today confirmed to have
approved an official guarantee for the contract.

The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and the Berne Declaration today
protested against ABB's increased involvement in the Three Gorges project.
"At a time when the social, environmental and security problems of the
megaproject become ever more evident and when opposition is mounting even
within China, ABB's support for the Three Gorges project is in sharp
contrast to the company's stated commitment to sustainable development",
says Peter Bosshard, spokesperson for the Berne Declaration.

The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and the Berne Declaration are
opposing the support of the latest Three Gorges contract by the Swedish or
by any other export risk gurantees. "We appeal to the Swedish government
not to lend further support to the Three Gorges project, which contradicts
the principles of Swedish environmental and human rights policies", says
SSNC chairman Göran Enander.


For further information:

. SSNC: Göran Eklof, ph +468 702 65 82, goran.eklof@snf.se, or Göran Ek, ph
+468 702 65 09, goran.ek@snf.se
. BD: Peter Bosshard, ph + 411 271 64 25, finance@evb.ch

ABB's press release is available at www.abb.com. An open letter to China's
President Jiang Zemin summarizing the problems of the Three Gorges dam is
available on the BD's website, www.access.ch/evb/bd.

The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation was founded in 1909. With its
170,000 members, it is the largest and oldest environmental organization in
Sweden. The Berne Declaration is a Swiss public-interest group with 16,000
members. Through research, popular education and advocacy work, it has
promoted more equitable and sustainable North-South relations since 1968.
Both SSNC and the BD have opposed ABB's involvement in destructive large
dam projects such as Three Gorges and Bakun for many years.