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Wednesday, May 22, 2013
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Tuesday, May 21, 2013
DR Congo waits on funding for world's largest hydropower project
DR Congo waits on funding for world's largest hydropower project
John Vidal, environment editor
The Guardian, Tuesday 21 May 2013
www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/may/21/dr-congo-funding-world-largest-hydropower-dam
The dream of harnessing the mighty Congo with the world's largest set of
dams has moved closer, with the World Bank and other financial
institutions expected to offer finance and South Africa agreeing to buy
half of the power generated.
In the past 60 years French, Belgian, Chinese, Brazilian and African
engineers have all hoped to dam the river.
But decades of civil war, corruption, and the Democratic Republic of
Congo's (DRC) reputation as a failed state have limited the hydropower
developments at the country's Inga Falls to two relatively small dams,
built in 1972 and 1982. These, known as Inga 1 and 2, have a theoretical
capacity of 1,400 megawatts but produce about half that.
A new $20bn (£13.2bn) development to generate a further 4,800MW was
announced over the weekend in Paris, with work planned to start in
October 2015. According to the DRC government, working with European and
other consultants, five further stages at Inga Falls could eventually
have a capacity of 40,000MW - equivalent to more than 20 large nuclear
power stations.
This would make the complete Grand Inga development the largest hydro
project in the world, generating twice as much as the Three Gorges dam
in China. In theory, say its backers, it could provide 40% of Africa's
electricity needs.
The attraction of developing hydropower on the Congo, says the
government, is that unlike most of the world's great dam projects, it
would not require tens of thousands of people to be relocated, nor would
it block the river and result in significant environmental consequences.
Because the Congo River around Inga is so vast and falls nearly 100
metres over a short distance, water can be diverted to create a massive
new lake without disturbing its main flow.
"The impact on land use is very limited. The development can be
progressive and carried out in a series of further phases, eventually
providing 40,000MW of power," says the technical data for the proposed
development.
The African Development Bank, World Bank, French Development Agency,
European Investment Bank and Development Bank of South Africa have all
shown interest in financing the next stage of the project. No developer
has been chosen but Chinese, Korean and Spanish companies are said to be
in the forefront.
Key to the project is South Africa's commitment this week to buy 2,500MW
of capacity. "We have affirmed our commitment to the project by already
provisioning for this purchase in our budgetary plan," said a South
Africa ministry of energy official, Garrith Bezuidenhoudt.
But the prospect of local people getting power from Inga in the next 20
years is remote. Less than 10% of the population has electricity, with
nearly all Inga 1 and 2 power going directly to multinational mining
companies in the Katanga "copper belt". It is expected most Inga 3 power
would travel 1,500 miles to power-hungry South Africa or large mines in DRC.
Giant hydropower schemes in Africa have a poor track record. "Projects
such as Inga 1 and 2 have not unleashed economic development, but have
been major contributors to African countries' unsustainable debt
burden," said the US-based International Rivers network, which has led
opposition to major dams around the world for 20 years.
In a letter last week to the World Bank president, Jim Yong Kim, the
International Rivers and 18 other civil society organisations and
networks from Africa, Europe and the US said the reality of large-scale
dams seldom matched their expectations, mostly adding to debt problems
and allowing powerful companies to cheaply exploit and export Africa's
vast natural resources.
According to the groups, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has found
that because of the continent's low population density, grid-based
electrification - including through large hydropower projects - is not
cost-effective for much of rural Sub-Saharan Africa.
The letter said: "Renewable energy solutions such as wind, solar and
micro hydropower projects are much more effective at reaching the rural
poor.
"According to the IEA report, 70% of the world's unelectrified rural
areas are best served through mini-grids or off-grid solutions.
"In the DRC, the World Bank and other financiers have invested billions…
in the construction and rehabilitation of the Inga 1 and 2 hydropower
projects and associated transmission lines over the past 40 years.
"After all this investment, 85% of the electricity in the DRC is
consumed by high-voltage users, while only 6-9% of the population has
access to electricity. We are concerned that the bank's proposed focus
on large hydropower projects will write off electricity access for the
majority of Africa's poor."
________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list: africa@list.internationalrivers.org
To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp
John Vidal, environment editor
The Guardian, Tuesday 21 May 2013
www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/may/21/dr-congo-funding-world-largest-hydropower-dam
The dream of harnessing the mighty Congo with the world's largest set of
dams has moved closer, with the World Bank and other financial
institutions expected to offer finance and South Africa agreeing to buy
half of the power generated.
In the past 60 years French, Belgian, Chinese, Brazilian and African
engineers have all hoped to dam the river.
But decades of civil war, corruption, and the Democratic Republic of
Congo's (DRC) reputation as a failed state have limited the hydropower
developments at the country's Inga Falls to two relatively small dams,
built in 1972 and 1982. These, known as Inga 1 and 2, have a theoretical
capacity of 1,400 megawatts but produce about half that.
A new $20bn (£13.2bn) development to generate a further 4,800MW was
announced over the weekend in Paris, with work planned to start in
October 2015. According to the DRC government, working with European and
other consultants, five further stages at Inga Falls could eventually
have a capacity of 40,000MW - equivalent to more than 20 large nuclear
power stations.
This would make the complete Grand Inga development the largest hydro
project in the world, generating twice as much as the Three Gorges dam
in China. In theory, say its backers, it could provide 40% of Africa's
electricity needs.
The attraction of developing hydropower on the Congo, says the
government, is that unlike most of the world's great dam projects, it
would not require tens of thousands of people to be relocated, nor would
it block the river and result in significant environmental consequences.
Because the Congo River around Inga is so vast and falls nearly 100
metres over a short distance, water can be diverted to create a massive
new lake without disturbing its main flow.
"The impact on land use is very limited. The development can be
progressive and carried out in a series of further phases, eventually
providing 40,000MW of power," says the technical data for the proposed
development.
The African Development Bank, World Bank, French Development Agency,
European Investment Bank and Development Bank of South Africa have all
shown interest in financing the next stage of the project. No developer
has been chosen but Chinese, Korean and Spanish companies are said to be
in the forefront.
Key to the project is South Africa's commitment this week to buy 2,500MW
of capacity. "We have affirmed our commitment to the project by already
provisioning for this purchase in our budgetary plan," said a South
Africa ministry of energy official, Garrith Bezuidenhoudt.
But the prospect of local people getting power from Inga in the next 20
years is remote. Less than 10% of the population has electricity, with
nearly all Inga 1 and 2 power going directly to multinational mining
companies in the Katanga "copper belt". It is expected most Inga 3 power
would travel 1,500 miles to power-hungry South Africa or large mines in DRC.
Giant hydropower schemes in Africa have a poor track record. "Projects
such as Inga 1 and 2 have not unleashed economic development, but have
been major contributors to African countries' unsustainable debt
burden," said the US-based International Rivers network, which has led
opposition to major dams around the world for 20 years.
In a letter last week to the World Bank president, Jim Yong Kim, the
International Rivers and 18 other civil society organisations and
networks from Africa, Europe and the US said the reality of large-scale
dams seldom matched their expectations, mostly adding to debt problems
and allowing powerful companies to cheaply exploit and export Africa's
vast natural resources.
According to the groups, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has found
that because of the continent's low population density, grid-based
electrification - including through large hydropower projects - is not
cost-effective for much of rural Sub-Saharan Africa.
The letter said: "Renewable energy solutions such as wind, solar and
micro hydropower projects are much more effective at reaching the rural
poor.
"According to the IEA report, 70% of the world's unelectrified rural
areas are best served through mini-grids or off-grid solutions.
"In the DRC, the World Bank and other financiers have invested billions…
in the construction and rehabilitation of the Inga 1 and 2 hydropower
projects and associated transmission lines over the past 40 years.
"After all this investment, 85% of the electricity in the DRC is
consumed by high-voltage users, while only 6-9% of the population has
access to electricity. We are concerned that the bank's proposed focus
on large hydropower projects will write off electricity access for the
majority of Africa's poor."
________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list: africa@list.internationalrivers.org
To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp
Grand Inga - the World Bank's Latest Silver Bullet for Africa
Grand Inga - the World Bank's Latest Silver Bullet for Africa
Peter Bosshard
Huffington Post, May 21, 2013
www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-bosshard/grand-inga-the-world-bank_b_3308223.html
When World Bank President Jim Kim visits the Democratic Republic of
Congo this week, he will find a country rich in natural resources but
blighted by a lack of basic services. The world's poorest country has
not only been ravaged by civil wars, but by decades of grandiose
development schemes that inevitably failed. The World Bank and other
donors are now concocting the continent's biggest pie in the sky: the
$80 billion Grand Inga Dam on the Congo River.
Close to 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live in a state of
permanent power outage. It is tempting to provide electricity to so many
people with one ambitious silver bullet. The Grand Inga Dam would divert
the Congo River near its mouth and, according to its promoters, meet the
electricity needs of more than 500 million people. With a capacity of
40,000 megawatts, the scheme would be the world's largest hydropower
project.
On Saturday, the DRC government announced plans to start construction on
the Congo River in October 2015. The World Bank, the African Development
Bank and the European Investment Bank want to join the ride. The World
Bank is considering support for the Inga 3 Dam, the first stage of the
much larger Grand Inga scheme, and two similar projects on the Zambezi
River. The Inga dams feature prominently on the agenda of the Bank
President's visit to the DRC.
The enthusiasm of the World Bank and other funders for mega-dams has a
long history. Over the past 40 years, donors have poured billions of
dollars into dams and associated transmission lines on the Congo River.
The projects have been plagued by rampant corruption, perform far below
capacity, and have failed to benefit the poor. About 85 percent of the
electricity in the DRC is consumed by the mining industry, while only 6
to 9 percent of the population has access to electricity. Worse, the
centralized nature of these investments has created a winner-takes-all
system that has encouraged tension and civil war.
The World Bank argues that a new generation of mega-dams could "catalyze
very large-scale benefits to improve access to infrastructure services"
in Africa. Yet once again, the projects on the Congo and the Zambezi are
designed to power the mining industry and urban centers. More than half
of the electricity generated by Inga 3 would be exported to South
Africa. The International Energy Agency has found that for most of
Africa's rural poor, grid-based electrification is not a realistic
option, and billions of dollars in aid for the energy sector will once
again bypass them.
Africa is more vulnerable to the vagaries of climate change than any
other continent. The World Bank's proposed support for mega-dams will
further increase this climate vulnerability. In a period when rainfalls
are becoming ever less predictable, focusing investments in centralized
reservoirs amounts to putting all energy eggs into one basket.
Luckily, better options are available. Distributed renewable energy
solutions have become affordable for poor consumers, who currently spend
a big part of their income on candles and kerosene. Decentralized wind,
solar and micro hydropower projects are much more effective at reaching
the rural poor and creating local jobs than grid-based power projects.
Like cell phones in the telecom sector, they can revolutionize the lives
of the poor that have been bypassed by the centralized landline and
electric grid systems.
Unlike large dams, decentralized renewable energy projects strengthen
the resilience of poor societies to the vagaries of climate change. They
have a smaller environmental footprint than large dams. And in contrast
to big, corruption-prone hydropower projects they are at a scale that
can be monitored by a poor country's civil society.
Donors claim that they will learn the lessons of their past failures
with mega-dams. Yet they are excluding civil society voices from the
decision-making process. The DRC government did not invite any NGOs to
the stakeholder meeting which launched the Grand Inga Project on May 18.
World Bank President Kim is not meeting any NGOs during his visit to the
Congo. The dam industry even excluded my colleague Rudo Sanyanga from
attending their Africa 2013 hydropower conference as a paid participant.
Donor governments will be asked to underwrite the new era of mega-dams
for Africa through the replenishment of IDA, the World Bank's fund for
the poorest countries. They have a choice. They can support an outdated
top-down approach that has failed Africa's poor in the past. Or they can
throw their weight behind the creative, decentralized energy
technologies of the future. Africa can't afford to waste another decade
on a new generation of mega-dams.
________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list: dams@list.internationalrivers.org
To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp
Peter Bosshard
Huffington Post, May 21, 2013
www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-bosshard/grand-inga-the-world-bank_b_3308223.html
When World Bank President Jim Kim visits the Democratic Republic of
Congo this week, he will find a country rich in natural resources but
blighted by a lack of basic services. The world's poorest country has
not only been ravaged by civil wars, but by decades of grandiose
development schemes that inevitably failed. The World Bank and other
donors are now concocting the continent's biggest pie in the sky: the
$80 billion Grand Inga Dam on the Congo River.
Close to 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live in a state of
permanent power outage. It is tempting to provide electricity to so many
people with one ambitious silver bullet. The Grand Inga Dam would divert
the Congo River near its mouth and, according to its promoters, meet the
electricity needs of more than 500 million people. With a capacity of
40,000 megawatts, the scheme would be the world's largest hydropower
project.
On Saturday, the DRC government announced plans to start construction on
the Congo River in October 2015. The World Bank, the African Development
Bank and the European Investment Bank want to join the ride. The World
Bank is considering support for the Inga 3 Dam, the first stage of the
much larger Grand Inga scheme, and two similar projects on the Zambezi
River. The Inga dams feature prominently on the agenda of the Bank
President's visit to the DRC.
The enthusiasm of the World Bank and other funders for mega-dams has a
long history. Over the past 40 years, donors have poured billions of
dollars into dams and associated transmission lines on the Congo River.
The projects have been plagued by rampant corruption, perform far below
capacity, and have failed to benefit the poor. About 85 percent of the
electricity in the DRC is consumed by the mining industry, while only 6
to 9 percent of the population has access to electricity. Worse, the
centralized nature of these investments has created a winner-takes-all
system that has encouraged tension and civil war.
The World Bank argues that a new generation of mega-dams could "catalyze
very large-scale benefits to improve access to infrastructure services"
in Africa. Yet once again, the projects on the Congo and the Zambezi are
designed to power the mining industry and urban centers. More than half
of the electricity generated by Inga 3 would be exported to South
Africa. The International Energy Agency has found that for most of
Africa's rural poor, grid-based electrification is not a realistic
option, and billions of dollars in aid for the energy sector will once
again bypass them.
Africa is more vulnerable to the vagaries of climate change than any
other continent. The World Bank's proposed support for mega-dams will
further increase this climate vulnerability. In a period when rainfalls
are becoming ever less predictable, focusing investments in centralized
reservoirs amounts to putting all energy eggs into one basket.
Luckily, better options are available. Distributed renewable energy
solutions have become affordable for poor consumers, who currently spend
a big part of their income on candles and kerosene. Decentralized wind,
solar and micro hydropower projects are much more effective at reaching
the rural poor and creating local jobs than grid-based power projects.
Like cell phones in the telecom sector, they can revolutionize the lives
of the poor that have been bypassed by the centralized landline and
electric grid systems.
Unlike large dams, decentralized renewable energy projects strengthen
the resilience of poor societies to the vagaries of climate change. They
have a smaller environmental footprint than large dams. And in contrast
to big, corruption-prone hydropower projects they are at a scale that
can be monitored by a poor country's civil society.
Donors claim that they will learn the lessons of their past failures
with mega-dams. Yet they are excluding civil society voices from the
decision-making process. The DRC government did not invite any NGOs to
the stakeholder meeting which launched the Grand Inga Project on May 18.
World Bank President Kim is not meeting any NGOs during his visit to the
Congo. The dam industry even excluded my colleague Rudo Sanyanga from
attending their Africa 2013 hydropower conference as a paid participant.
Donor governments will be asked to underwrite the new era of mega-dams
for Africa through the replenishment of IDA, the World Bank's fund for
the poorest countries. They have a choice. They can support an outdated
top-down approach that has failed Africa's poor in the past. Or they can
throw their weight behind the creative, decentralized energy
technologies of the future. Africa can't afford to waste another decade
on a new generation of mega-dams.
________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list: dams@list.internationalrivers.org
To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp
Grand Inga - the World Bank's Latest Silver Bullet for Africa
Grand Inga - the World Bank's Latest Silver Bullet for Africa
Peter Bosshard
Huffington Post, May 21, 2013
www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-bosshard/grand-inga-the-world-bank_b_3308223.html
When World Bank President Jim Kim visits the Democratic Republic of
Congo this week, he will find a country rich in natural resources but
blighted by a lack of basic services. The world's poorest country has
not only been ravaged by civil wars, but by decades of grandiose
development schemes that inevitably failed. The World Bank and other
donors are now concocting the continent's biggest pie in the sky: the
$80 billion Grand Inga Dam on the Congo River.
Close to 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live in a state of
permanent power outage. It is tempting to provide electricity to so many
people with one ambitious silver bullet. The Grand Inga Dam would divert
the Congo River near its mouth and, according to its promoters, meet the
electricity needs of more than 500 million people. With a capacity of
40,000 megawatts, the scheme would be the world's largest hydropower
project.
On Saturday, the DRC government announced plans to start construction on
the Congo River in October 2015. The World Bank, the African Development
Bank and the European Investment Bank want to join the ride. The World
Bank is considering support for the Inga 3 Dam, the first stage of the
much larger Grand Inga scheme, and two similar projects on the Zambezi
River. The Inga dams feature prominently on the agenda of the Bank
President's visit to the DRC.
The enthusiasm of the World Bank and other funders for mega-dams has a
long history. Over the past 40 years, donors have poured billions of
dollars into dams and associated transmission lines on the Congo River.
The projects have been plagued by rampant corruption, perform far below
capacity, and have failed to benefit the poor. About 85 percent of the
electricity in the DRC is consumed by the mining industry, while only 6
to 9 percent of the population has access to electricity. Worse, the
centralized nature of these investments has created a winner-takes-all
system that has encouraged tension and civil war.
The World Bank argues that a new generation of mega-dams could "catalyze
very large-scale benefits to improve access to infrastructure services"
in Africa. Yet once again, the projects on the Congo and the Zambezi are
designed to power the mining industry and urban centers. More than half
of the electricity generated by Inga 3 would be exported to South
Africa. The International Energy Agency has found that for most of
Africa's rural poor, grid-based electrification is not a realistic
option, and billions of dollars in aid for the energy sector will once
again bypass them.
Africa is more vulnerable to the vagaries of climate change than any
other continent. The World Bank's proposed support for mega-dams will
further increase this climate vulnerability. In a period when rainfalls
are becoming ever less predictable, focusing investments in centralized
reservoirs amounts to putting all energy eggs into one basket.
Luckily, better options are available. Distributed renewable energy
solutions have become affordable for poor consumers, who currently spend
a big part of their income on candles and kerosene. Decentralized wind,
solar and micro hydropower projects are much more effective at reaching
the rural poor and creating local jobs than grid-based power projects.
Like cell phones in the telecom sector, they can revolutionize the lives
of the poor that have been bypassed by the centralized landline and
electric grid systems.
Unlike large dams, decentralized renewable energy projects strengthen
the resilience of poor societies to the vagaries of climate change. They
have a smaller environmental footprint than large dams. And in contrast
to big, corruption-prone hydropower projects they are at a scale that
can be monitored by a poor country's civil society.
Donors claim that they will learn the lessons of their past failures
with mega-dams. Yet they are excluding civil society voices from the
decision-making process. The DRC government did not invite any NGOs to
the stakeholder meeting which launched the Grand Inga Project on May 18.
World Bank President Kim is not meeting any NGOs during his visit to the
Congo. The dam industry even excluded my colleague Rudo Sanyanga from
attending their Africa 2013 hydropower conference as a paid participant.
Donor governments will be asked to underwrite the new era of mega-dams
for Africa through the replenishment of IDA, the World Bank's fund for
the poorest countries. They have a choice. They can support an outdated
top-down approach that has failed Africa's poor in the past. Or they can
throw their weight behind the creative, decentralized energy
technologies of the future. Africa can't afford to waste another decade
on a new generation of mega-dams.
________________________________________________
This is International Rivers' mailing list on the role of international financial institutions in promoting large dams.
You received this message as a subscriber on the list: ifi@list.internationalrivers.org
To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp
Peter Bosshard
Huffington Post, May 21, 2013
www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-bosshard/grand-inga-the-world-bank_b_3308223.html
When World Bank President Jim Kim visits the Democratic Republic of
Congo this week, he will find a country rich in natural resources but
blighted by a lack of basic services. The world's poorest country has
not only been ravaged by civil wars, but by decades of grandiose
development schemes that inevitably failed. The World Bank and other
donors are now concocting the continent's biggest pie in the sky: the
$80 billion Grand Inga Dam on the Congo River.
Close to 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live in a state of
permanent power outage. It is tempting to provide electricity to so many
people with one ambitious silver bullet. The Grand Inga Dam would divert
the Congo River near its mouth and, according to its promoters, meet the
electricity needs of more than 500 million people. With a capacity of
40,000 megawatts, the scheme would be the world's largest hydropower
project.
On Saturday, the DRC government announced plans to start construction on
the Congo River in October 2015. The World Bank, the African Development
Bank and the European Investment Bank want to join the ride. The World
Bank is considering support for the Inga 3 Dam, the first stage of the
much larger Grand Inga scheme, and two similar projects on the Zambezi
River. The Inga dams feature prominently on the agenda of the Bank
President's visit to the DRC.
The enthusiasm of the World Bank and other funders for mega-dams has a
long history. Over the past 40 years, donors have poured billions of
dollars into dams and associated transmission lines on the Congo River.
The projects have been plagued by rampant corruption, perform far below
capacity, and have failed to benefit the poor. About 85 percent of the
electricity in the DRC is consumed by the mining industry, while only 6
to 9 percent of the population has access to electricity. Worse, the
centralized nature of these investments has created a winner-takes-all
system that has encouraged tension and civil war.
The World Bank argues that a new generation of mega-dams could "catalyze
very large-scale benefits to improve access to infrastructure services"
in Africa. Yet once again, the projects on the Congo and the Zambezi are
designed to power the mining industry and urban centers. More than half
of the electricity generated by Inga 3 would be exported to South
Africa. The International Energy Agency has found that for most of
Africa's rural poor, grid-based electrification is not a realistic
option, and billions of dollars in aid for the energy sector will once
again bypass them.
Africa is more vulnerable to the vagaries of climate change than any
other continent. The World Bank's proposed support for mega-dams will
further increase this climate vulnerability. In a period when rainfalls
are becoming ever less predictable, focusing investments in centralized
reservoirs amounts to putting all energy eggs into one basket.
Luckily, better options are available. Distributed renewable energy
solutions have become affordable for poor consumers, who currently spend
a big part of their income on candles and kerosene. Decentralized wind,
solar and micro hydropower projects are much more effective at reaching
the rural poor and creating local jobs than grid-based power projects.
Like cell phones in the telecom sector, they can revolutionize the lives
of the poor that have been bypassed by the centralized landline and
electric grid systems.
Unlike large dams, decentralized renewable energy projects strengthen
the resilience of poor societies to the vagaries of climate change. They
have a smaller environmental footprint than large dams. And in contrast
to big, corruption-prone hydropower projects they are at a scale that
can be monitored by a poor country's civil society.
Donors claim that they will learn the lessons of their past failures
with mega-dams. Yet they are excluding civil society voices from the
decision-making process. The DRC government did not invite any NGOs to
the stakeholder meeting which launched the Grand Inga Project on May 18.
World Bank President Kim is not meeting any NGOs during his visit to the
Congo. The dam industry even excluded my colleague Rudo Sanyanga from
attending their Africa 2013 hydropower conference as a paid participant.
Donor governments will be asked to underwrite the new era of mega-dams
for Africa through the replenishment of IDA, the World Bank's fund for
the poorest countries. They have a choice. They can support an outdated
top-down approach that has failed Africa's poor in the past. Or they can
throw their weight behind the creative, decentralized energy
technologies of the future. Africa can't afford to waste another decade
on a new generation of mega-dams.
________________________________________________
This is International Rivers' mailing list on the role of international financial institutions in promoting large dams.
You received this message as a subscriber on the list: ifi@list.internationalrivers.org
To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp
Grand Inga - the World Bank's Latest Silver Bullet for Africa (fyi)
Grand Inga - the World Bank's Latest Silver Bullet for Africa
Peter Bosshard
Huffington Post, May 21, 2013
www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-bosshard/grand-inga-the-world-bank_b_3308223.html
When World Bank President Jim Kim visits the Democratic Republic of
Congo this week, he will find a country rich in natural resources but
blighted by a lack of basic services. The world's poorest country has
not only been ravaged by civil wars, but by decades of grandiose
development schemes that inevitably failed. The World Bank and other
donors are now concocting the continent's biggest pie in the sky: the
$80 billion Grand Inga Dam on the Congo River.
Close to 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live in a state of
permanent power outage. It is tempting to provide electricity to so many
people with one ambitious silver bullet. The Grand Inga Dam would divert
the Congo River near its mouth and, according to its promoters, meet the
electricity needs of more than 500 million people. With a capacity of
40,000 megawatts, the scheme would be the world's largest hydropower
project.
On Saturday, the DRC government announced plans to start construction on
the Congo River in October 2015. The World Bank, the African Development
Bank and the European Investment Bank want to join the ride. The World
Bank is considering support for the Inga 3 Dam, the first stage of the
much larger Grand Inga scheme, and two similar projects on the Zambezi
River. The Inga dams feature prominently on the agenda of the Bank
President's visit to the DRC.
The enthusiasm of the World Bank and other funders for mega-dams has a
long history. Over the past 40 years, donors have poured billions of
dollars into dams and associated transmission lines on the Congo River.
The projects have been plagued by rampant corruption, perform far below
capacity, and have failed to benefit the poor. About 85 percent of the
electricity in the DRC is consumed by the mining industry, while only 6
to 9 percent of the population has access to electricity. Worse, the
centralized nature of these investments has created a winner-takes-all
system that has encouraged tension and civil war.
The World Bank argues that a new generation of mega-dams could "catalyze
very large-scale benefits to improve access to infrastructure services"
in Africa. Yet once again, the projects on the Congo and the Zambezi are
designed to power the mining industry and urban centers. More than half
of the electricity generated by Inga 3 would be exported to South
Africa. The International Energy Agency has found that for most of
Africa's rural poor, grid-based electrification is not a realistic
option, and billions of dollars in aid for the energy sector will once
again bypass them.
Africa is more vulnerable to the vagaries of climate change than any
other continent. The World Bank's proposed support for mega-dams will
further increase this climate vulnerability. In a period when rainfalls
are becoming ever less predictable, focusing investments in centralized
reservoirs amounts to putting all energy eggs into one basket.
Luckily, better options are available. Distributed renewable energy
solutions have become affordable for poor consumers, who currently spend
a big part of their income on candles and kerosene. Decentralized wind,
solar and micro hydropower projects are much more effective at reaching
the rural poor and creating local jobs than grid-based power projects.
Like cell phones in the telecom sector, they can revolutionize the lives
of the poor that have been bypassed by the centralized landline and
electric grid systems.
Unlike large dams, decentralized renewable energy projects strengthen
the resilience of poor societies to the vagaries of climate change. They
have a smaller environmental footprint than large dams. And in contrast
to big, corruption-prone hydropower projects they are at a scale that
can be monitored by a poor country's civil society.
Donors claim that they will learn the lessons of their past failures
with mega-dams. Yet they are excluding civil society voices from the
decision-making process. The DRC government did not invite any NGOs to
the stakeholder meeting which launched the Grand Inga Project on May 18.
World Bank President Kim is not meeting any NGOs during his visit to the
Congo. The dam industry even excluded my colleague Rudo Sanyanga from
attending their Africa 2013 hydropower conference as a paid participant.
Donor governments will be asked to underwrite the new era of mega-dams
for Africa through the replenishment of IDA, the World Bank's fund for
the poorest countries. They have a choice. They can support an outdated
top-down approach that has failed Africa's poor in the past. Or they can
throw their weight behind the creative, decentralized energy
technologies of the future. Africa can't afford to waste another decade
on a new generation of mega-dams.
________________________________________________
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Peter Bosshard
Huffington Post, May 21, 2013
www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-bosshard/grand-inga-the-world-bank_b_3308223.html
When World Bank President Jim Kim visits the Democratic Republic of
Congo this week, he will find a country rich in natural resources but
blighted by a lack of basic services. The world's poorest country has
not only been ravaged by civil wars, but by decades of grandiose
development schemes that inevitably failed. The World Bank and other
donors are now concocting the continent's biggest pie in the sky: the
$80 billion Grand Inga Dam on the Congo River.
Close to 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live in a state of
permanent power outage. It is tempting to provide electricity to so many
people with one ambitious silver bullet. The Grand Inga Dam would divert
the Congo River near its mouth and, according to its promoters, meet the
electricity needs of more than 500 million people. With a capacity of
40,000 megawatts, the scheme would be the world's largest hydropower
project.
On Saturday, the DRC government announced plans to start construction on
the Congo River in October 2015. The World Bank, the African Development
Bank and the European Investment Bank want to join the ride. The World
Bank is considering support for the Inga 3 Dam, the first stage of the
much larger Grand Inga scheme, and two similar projects on the Zambezi
River. The Inga dams feature prominently on the agenda of the Bank
President's visit to the DRC.
The enthusiasm of the World Bank and other funders for mega-dams has a
long history. Over the past 40 years, donors have poured billions of
dollars into dams and associated transmission lines on the Congo River.
The projects have been plagued by rampant corruption, perform far below
capacity, and have failed to benefit the poor. About 85 percent of the
electricity in the DRC is consumed by the mining industry, while only 6
to 9 percent of the population has access to electricity. Worse, the
centralized nature of these investments has created a winner-takes-all
system that has encouraged tension and civil war.
The World Bank argues that a new generation of mega-dams could "catalyze
very large-scale benefits to improve access to infrastructure services"
in Africa. Yet once again, the projects on the Congo and the Zambezi are
designed to power the mining industry and urban centers. More than half
of the electricity generated by Inga 3 would be exported to South
Africa. The International Energy Agency has found that for most of
Africa's rural poor, grid-based electrification is not a realistic
option, and billions of dollars in aid for the energy sector will once
again bypass them.
Africa is more vulnerable to the vagaries of climate change than any
other continent. The World Bank's proposed support for mega-dams will
further increase this climate vulnerability. In a period when rainfalls
are becoming ever less predictable, focusing investments in centralized
reservoirs amounts to putting all energy eggs into one basket.
Luckily, better options are available. Distributed renewable energy
solutions have become affordable for poor consumers, who currently spend
a big part of their income on candles and kerosene. Decentralized wind,
solar and micro hydropower projects are much more effective at reaching
the rural poor and creating local jobs than grid-based power projects.
Like cell phones in the telecom sector, they can revolutionize the lives
of the poor that have been bypassed by the centralized landline and
electric grid systems.
Unlike large dams, decentralized renewable energy projects strengthen
the resilience of poor societies to the vagaries of climate change. They
have a smaller environmental footprint than large dams. And in contrast
to big, corruption-prone hydropower projects they are at a scale that
can be monitored by a poor country's civil society.
Donors claim that they will learn the lessons of their past failures
with mega-dams. Yet they are excluding civil society voices from the
decision-making process. The DRC government did not invite any NGOs to
the stakeholder meeting which launched the Grand Inga Project on May 18.
World Bank President Kim is not meeting any NGOs during his visit to the
Congo. The dam industry even excluded my colleague Rudo Sanyanga from
attending their Africa 2013 hydropower conference as a paid participant.
Donor governments will be asked to underwrite the new era of mega-dams
for Africa through the replenishment of IDA, the World Bank's fund for
the poorest countries. They have a choice. They can support an outdated
top-down approach that has failed Africa's poor in the past. Or they can
throw their weight behind the creative, decentralized energy
technologies of the future. Africa can't afford to waste another decade
on a new generation of mega-dams.
________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list: africa@list.internationalrivers.org
To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp
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