21 November 2006
The World Bank approved $170 million in International Finance Corporation (IFC) financing and $200 million in Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) support for the controversial Botnia pulp mill in Uruguay on Tuesday.
Jorge Daniel Taillant of CEDHA and fellow supporters brave fierce weather to protest the Botnia pulp mill in front of the World Bank on November 16, 2006.
The World Bank approved $170 million in International Finance Corporation (IFC) financing and $200 million in Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) support for the controversial Botnia pulp mill in Uruguay on Tuesday.
The Board was originally scheduled to vote on the project last Thursday, but postponed the vote at the last minute in response to a request from one of its members.
In response to today’s decision, the Argentine NGO Center for Human Rights and Environment (CEDHA) said the following: "Today the Board of Directors of the World Bank, against all legal reasoning and social opposition, approved two loans to Botnia to construct one of the world’s largest pulp mills ever" The organization led a delegation to Washington DC last week to meet with World Bank officials, press for the suspension of the Board vote, and protest the project outside the Bank’s headquarters on 18th Street.
The organization states that thousands of local people awaited the Board’s decision on Highway 136, the road spanning the river between Argentina and Uruguay.
Tensions around the controversial project have swelled in past months. The Argentine town of Gualeguaychu has blocked Highway 136 in protest, and the King of Spain has stepped in to mediate the conflict. While many in Uruguay see potential economic benefits from the project, Argentine communities located across the river from the mill fear its potential to disrupt local tourism.
In general, once a project reaches the Board, unless highly contentious, it is usually approved. Board members may request postponement of a vote on project approval for a variety of reasons. Approval of a project is generally reached by a consensus among Board members.
Because the disputed mill could be in violation of a bilateral treaty between the two countries, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is in the process of reviewing the case. Many of the parties involved are concerned that the IFC's approval of the project, before the ICJ's final ruling, sets a dangerous precedent of intervention by the World Bank in an international dispute.
Resources