Medupi WB loan under fire again
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LEPHALALE - Members of the Lephalale community - whose identities are being protected by an Inspection Panel of the World Bank - requested that the US$3.75-billion loan granted to Eskom by the World Bank in April 2010 be taken under review.
According to a report issued by the World Bank a request for inspection was submitted by representatives of community living in the Medupi-project area. The request was submitted on their behalf by GroundWork and Earthlife Africa.
The request contains 13 claims on issues of potential effects that are linked to the project. These claims allege an impact with regards to increased health problems, decreased water availability, aggravating the effects of climate change, as well as cultural and livelihood changes and losses - especially to farmers in the area.
Agri Limpopo president Francois van den Berg told Northern News this week that the panel visited Lephalale twice. “They were extremely concerned about air pollution and sand-mining activities in the area.”
Van den Berg said that many farmers are concerned about the overall effects of Medupi and Matimba on the environment. “Farms in the Steenbokpan-area show signs of acid rain as fences start to rust as a result.”
The final findings by the panel was submitted to the World Bank on 21 November and leaked to the public this week. The report, which Northern News had a chance to review, states that Medupi has always been controversial and that potential harm in the local impact area was not duly taken into consideration when the loan was granted. The year-and-a-half-long investigation by the Inspection Panel criticised the bank for insufficiently taking health, water scarcity and the pressures on local services into account when supporting the 4 800mW Medupi power plant. The independent audit concludes that the World Bank management did not properly follow its operational policies and procedures in connection with the project.* GroundWork and Earthlife Africa argue that such non-compliance will cause or contribute to significant harm to people and the environment.
In reviewing the Medupi- orld Bank loan, the inspection panel was most critical when it came to water, finding that while bank management studied the availability of water to run the power plant, it did not dwell on what impact the use of those resources might have on other users.
Van den Berg agrees with this, warning that supplying two power stations from one water source (the Mokolo dam) will lead to an environmental catastrophe. “The Department of Water Affairs is adamant that there is enough water in the Mokolo dam for industry, residential use and farming. I am not convinced. This is a disaster waiting to happen.”
Bobby Peek, director of GroundWork SA told Northern News that the World Bank Management has six weeks to respond to the report. “We hope that the World Bank will learn from its monumental mistake in SA and will mandate investment only in clean, sustainable, renewable energies going forward. The Bank must demonstrate that this lesson is understood as it drafts its new Energy Strategy. An Energy Strategy that allows for another Medupi is the wrong strategy.”
The World Bank management said it believes that extensive research has been carried out during the preparation process and that, through such due diligence, the requirements of Bank policies and procedures including those applicable to the matters raised in the request have been met. The Bank also believes that the requester’s rights or interests have not been, nor will they be, directly and adversely affected.
