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dam-l Letter: LHWP Corruption
The following letter to the editor appeared in the Washington Post today.
Corruption and the World Bank
Monday, August 23, 1999; Page A16
The article "Big Firms Accused of Bribery in African Dam Project" cites
World Bank claims that it had a limited role in the Lesotho Highlands Water
Project
because it made only a small contribution to the multibillion-dollar
financing scheme
[Business, Aug. 13]. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not only did the
World Bank finance the design of >the project; it also is responsible for
setting
up and coordinating the financing program.
>
According to a confidential World Bank project document,
>in 1991 the bank agreed to participate in a trust for offshore lenders "to
> provide some comfort for lenders who might otherwise be reluctant to
>assist in
> the financing." This type of comfort was needed because of the international
>sanctions then in place against the apartheid regime in South Africa.
>According to the same document, the World Bank loan for the project went only
>nominally to Lesotho, a country far too poor to qualify for large
>loans, while the real borrower was South Africa's apartheid regime. It is
>unacceptable for the World Bank to claim that it is a passive bystander in the
> unfolding corruption investigation. Should the corruption allegation be
>substantiated, the World Bank must debar the companies involved in the bribery
>from future World Bank-financed activities. It also should launch an
>investigation into its own role in this controversial project.
>
Besides serious allegations of corruption, the project,
>which includes the highest dam in Africa, has caused the vulnerable
>Highlands population to lose fields, grazing lands and access to fresh water
>sources. Despite promises, their livelihoods have not been reestablished,
>and poor people have been pushed closer to the edge in their struggle for
>survival. Problems of erosion and the downstream effects of massive water
>diversion will disrupt ecosystems and people's livelihoods. In Lesotho, as in
>many places, corruption, environmental degradation and increasing
>poverty have a tendency to go together.
>
LORI POTTINGER
Director, Southern Africa Program, International Rivers Network, Berkeley,
Calif.
KORINNA HORTA
Senior Environmental Economist, Environmental Defense Fund, Washington
>
Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company
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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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