World Bank / Letters

RE: Concerns of Proposed Regional and Domestic Power Markets Development Project

To the World Bank Board of Directors:

We commend the Bank’s interest and commitment to refurbish existing energy infrastructure at the Inga site in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). However, the legacy of the Inga dams and the interest in further hydropower development of the Inga site raise several issues which create a more complex context for the Bank’s proposed Regional and Domestic Power Markets Development Project (RDPMDP).¹ The following issues demand further attention before the Bank approves financing for this project.

We are writing to express our dismay at the World Bank’s and IMF’s reaction to the Singaporean government’s ban on about 20 representatives from five NGOs from attending the upcoming Annual Meetings. We are also dismayed at your institution’s reactions to the pressure exerted by Singapore on the Indonesian authorities to prevent civil society activities on Batam island.

Thank you for your detailed message of June 1. We would be happy to discuss the issues at stake in a personal meeting. Let me already respond to a few issues that you raised in order to clarify where we agree and disagree so that we can better prepare our next discussion.

Thank you (and Shannon) for your email and your article, which you also sent to other Bank colleagues who are on the International Rivers distribution lists (some of whom I am copying), and Mr. Wolfowitz. Since we last met, my role has shifted and I now divide my time as senior water advisor equally between Africa and South Asia.

Letter raises questions and concerns regarding information disclosure, project monitors, resettlement, and environmental management during construction.

Thank you for your note of July 28 and the attached letter concerning the WB EIB Carbon Fund for Europe and hydro power projects. I refer you to the frequently asked questions on our website: www.carbonfinance.org, and the World Bank’s position on the report of the WCD at: www.worldbank.org, which should provide the information you are seeking.

Mr. Odin Knudsen
Senior Manager, World Bank Carbon Finance
The World Bank
Washington, DC

Dear Mr. Knudsen

We note with interest your decision to develop a World Bank–European Investment Bank Carbon Fund for Europe.

We are certain that you are aware of the adoption of the Linking Directive by the European Union in 2004, regulating the admission of CDM credits into the EU’s emissions trading scheme (EU ETS). The directive stipulates that credits from hydropower projects exceeding 20 MW can only enter the EU ETS if the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams final report are respected during the development of such projects.

Submitted to CDM Methodology Panel

Title of new baseline methodology: Hydropower Projects that Create New Reservoirs or Expand Existing Ones (NM0121)

SJVN: well equipped to develop the Rampur project?
Questions to the World Bank regarding the Indian dam building company Sutley Jal Vidyut Nigam

The World Bank is considering financing the Rampur hydropower project in India’s Northern State of Himachal Pradesh. Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN, formerly the Nathpa Jhakri Power Corporation) is planning to develop this project. SJVN has in the past only executed one hydropower project in India, the Nathpa Jhakri project, also partly financed by the World Bank. The 1,500 MW Nathpa Jhakri project suffered from severe project design and implementation failures, resulting in acute cost and time overruns.