Recent reporting on the Pasto Mocoa Highway have included video of the actual highway that is currently one of the most dangerous roads in Colombia, referred to by some as the “Trampoline of Death.” As an IIRSA priority project with funding in preparation by the IDB, a proposed 50 km rerouting of the section between between San Francisco and Mocoa will pass through the 35,00 ha Upper Mocoa Forest Reserve with impacts on indigenous and farmer communities in the affected region. Among other impacts, the highway improvement is expected to increase investment in mining as indicated by the estimated increase in mining related traffic from zero vehicles to 180 vehicles daily.
Yemeni civil society group take their complaint regarding the World Bank’s refusal to translate a key program document, to the Inspection Panel
The World Bank continues to commission feasibility studies for the proposed Red/Dead Sea Canal, but environmental and political issues remain major issues.
By means of this bulletin, the BICECA project of Bank Information Center, seeks to bring news and relevant current information about particular aspects of projects and policies related with the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA). This publication is addressed to a diverse public of civil society organizations, native groups, students, academics and other people or entities that follows the different policies and projects of international financial institutions related the IIRSA project.
IDB Loan Approval Set for early 2009: The $200 million road project in Putumayo, Colombia is an anchor project for the IIRSA Amazonas Corridor and will unlock commercial traffic between the ports of Tumaco and Belem, as well as between Bogota and Quito.
Concerned parties threaten to file a court case against the Egyptian government if they do not receive satisfactory answers.
The Phulbari Coal Project threatens numerous dangers and potential damages, ranging from the degradation of a major agricultural region in Bangladesh to pollution of the world’s largest wetlands. The project’s Summary Environmental Impact Assessment, and its full Environmental and Social Impact Assessment are replete with vague assurances, issuing many promises of future mitigation measures.
The project will divert water from the Nile to the reclaimed lands in the West Delta region, while the introduction of the private sector for the first time in Egypt could leave small farmers behind.
Over 100 civil society groups from 31 countries are calling on financial backers to withdraw their support from the the controversial Phulbari Coal Project in Bangladesh. The project will displace over 200,000 people, impoverish farming households and cause immense environmental impacts in one of the most fertile regions of Bangladesh. Despite these factors, according to information available on its website, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) remains interested in financing the project after having distanced itself from it earlier this year.
The World Bank’s support for the $15.5 million feasibility studies continues to raise questions about the Bank’s application of its operational safeguard policies on the project.