18 February 2009 | Washington, DC
Zoellick: "Bank's record with this project is appalling." Executive Directors acknowledge mistakes in Jale home demolitions and approve action plan.
During its February 17, 2009 meeting, the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors made several important decisions on the question of the Bank’s involvement in the April 2007 incident in a coastal Albanian village (see BIC update "World Bank Violated Policies and Misinformed Board in Albania Project"). In response to the Inspection Panel report, the Board acknowledged serious errors in project preparation, supervision and communication. The Bank Board also considered a Management Report and Action Plan to address the issue.
The Board’s Action Plan calls for a legal review of each case of the Jale demolitions – and an independent observer to monitor and report back to the bank. In addition, the Plan will include payment of legal aid for the review of each of the requesters’ claims and Bank management supervision of a social and vulnerability assessment, with a retroactive application of assistance packages to the poor or vulnerable affected by the demolitions.
The World Bank has officially acknowledged a series of errors during the project; such as project preparation, presentation to the Board and project supervision. The Board also agreed with the Inspection Panel’s findings on the relevance of the Bank’s Involuntary Resettlement Policy in the Albania Project and the ambiguous nature of the Bank’s provisions of these and other policies. The Board has promised to review the application of its social and environmental policies in projects in the future.
In part because the Inspection Panel’s mandate “does not include the investigation of allegations of corruption,” according to Panel Chair Werner Kiene, World Bank President Robert Zoellick has asked the Acting General Counsel to review the September 2008 Corrigendum and for the Bank’s Department of Institutional Integrity (INT) to lead an Accountability Review into the allegations of misinformation on the part of Bank staff members regarding the project in Albania. President Zoellick stated that “the Bank’s record with this project is appalling…we are moving promptly to strengthen oversight, improve procedures, and help the families who had their buildings demolished.” Zoellick added that “The Bank cannot let this happen again.”
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