EIB to help finance controversial gas pipeline
20 December 2006
The European Investment Bank (EIB) last week approved a €70 million investment (approximately $87 million) in the Chevron-led West Africa Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) to support the construction of the 681 km-long pipeline that will transport natural gas from the Niger Delta to Ghana’s industrial centers in Tema and Takoradi.
According to available EIB documents, the investment will represent “a major share of the participation of the Government of Ghana in the pipeline.” The EIB, which also provided financing for the controversial Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline project, is among the least transparent of the IFIs and lacks clear social and environmental policies. Given the institution’s shortcomings and outstanding problems surrounding the impacts of the West Africa Gas Pipeline (WAGP), activists are concerned about EIB involvement in the project.
The EIB's approval of the WAGP comes amid a series of new approvals for energy projects in Africa totaling over $1 billion before the end of the 2006 Fiscal Year.
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