1 November 2007 | Washington, DC
As the World Bank President, Robert Zoellick, embarks on his first official visit to South Asia, non-governmental organizations in Pakistan urge the Bank to cease funding for large infrastructure projects.
World Bank President, Robert Zoellick is on a week-long visit to South Asia. Having just concluded a two-day trip to Pakistan, where he pledged the Bank's support for "increasing World Bank support to drive competitiveness by investment in infrastructure and human development," Zoellick will next visit India and conclude his trip with a visit to Bangladesh.
Representatives of communities adversely affected by mega projects in Pakistan, such as hydro-power dams, yesterday urged Zoellick not to fund "economically, environmentally and socially infeasible projects in the country."
The President of the Pakistan Network for Rivers, Dams and People (PNRDP), said in a statement that "it had been proved that the project executing agencies lacked capacity to deliver in terms of time and cost and had failed in resettling hundreds of thousands of people displaced due to these projects," local Pakistani media reported.
More egregious, the Government of Pakistan has failed to deliver on its promises of resettling and rehabilitating people affected by large dam projects, such as the Tarbela Dam, Ghazi Barotha Hydropower Project, and the Left Bank Outfall Drain -- all of which are funded by the World Bank.
In India, Zoellick's visit will focus on urban development projects. He will meet with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, the agency overseeing the controversial, Bank-funded, Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP), with a total cost of US$945 million. MUTP is amongst the Bank's largest projects in India and in 2006 its quasi-independent Inspection Panel, prompted to investigate the project by affected persons, observed in its final report that the MUTP had failed to resettle and adequately compensate 17,000 households who are negatively affected by the project.
Sources
- WB urged to avoid funding incapable agencies, Dawn, November 1, 2007 (Dawn website)
- WB urged to stop funding mega projects in Pakistan, Daily Times, November 1, 2007 (Daily Times website)
- World Bank urged not to fund infeasible projects by Mohsin Babbar, The Post, November 1, 2007 (The Post website)
- WB president urged to avoid funding incapable agencies, The Frontier Post, November 1, 2007 (The Frontier Post website)
- World Bank chief to review Mumbai slum resettlement projects during India visit, Associated Press, November 1, 2007 (International Herald Tribune website)
- World Bank chief in Mumbai for stocktaking, by Madhurima Nandy, November 1, 2007 (Hindustan Times webstite)
- Zoellick in South Asia (World Bank website)
- Inspection Panel report on Mumbai Urban Transport Project (2004) (World Bank Inspection Panel website)
- Inspection Panel Report on National Drainage Program Project (2004) (World Bank Inspection Panel website)