SUDAN
No Clear Studies on Impacts of Merowe Dam
By Reem Abbas
KHARTOUM, Jan 2, 2012 (IPS) - The multi-billion dollar Merowe Dam on
the Nile River more than doubled Sudan's electricity supply, but its
environmental impacts are still unknown to the public, and communities
whose villages were flooded have not yet received compensation.
The Merowe Dam, which was completed in 2010, will affect the aquatic
ecology of the Nile River in Sudan by blocking fish migration and
degrading water quality.
It will also cause at least eight percent of Sudan's annual share in
the Nile Water Agreement to evaporate and will produce carbon dioxide
and methane, two harmful greenhouse gases.
"Sudanese people are unaware of the devastating environmental impact
of the Merowe Dam," said Ali Askouri, a human rights activist and the
representative of the Hamdab Affected People, a group fighting for
compensation and accountability for the populations affected by the
dam, told IPS.
No detailed study of the Merowe Dam impact on downstream communities
has been published and Askouri is worried that when the effects become
clear, it will be too late to take action.
No compensation for displaced villagers
International Rivers estimates that at least 70,000 were displaced as
a result of the Merowe Dam. In November, some 1,000 people hailing
from the Manasir ethnic group, one of the groups displaced by the dam,
took matters into their own hands and travelled close to the capital
to hold a sit-in at Al Damar, the capital of River Nile State, about
300 km from Khartoum.
Dam activists and international rights organisations prompted the
European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) to look
into the case and investigate the human impacts of the dam.
"ECCHR started working on the case in 2009 after it was asked by other
organisations to consider the legal responsibilities of the companies
involved in building the dam," said Miriam Saage-Maasz, program
manager for business and human rights at ECCHR.
In May 2010, the ECCHR filed a complaint against the German company,
Lahmeyer International, at the department of public prosecution in
Frankfurt for human rights abuses due to the construction of the dam.
The criminal complaint charged two Lahmeyer employees for knowingly
flooding villages and causing displacement. The ECCHR states in their
report that Lahmeyer was aware of the 2008 flooding caused by the dam
and carried on with the project without building alternative houses
for the affected families. In 2008, 30 villages inhabited by at least
4,700 families were flooded as a result of the dam.
Years later, the Manasir have still not been compensated for their
losses. In a statement issued by the Council responsible for
organising the sit-in and protests, the protestors have asked the
government to abide by their promises and provide them with housing
and agricultural projects.
Sudanese opposition parties have asked the government to take
immediate action and meet the demands of the protestors as well as
investigate the humanitarian situation in Kajbar and Amri, the site of
two dams under construction.
"No one knows what the impact will be on downstream communities, but
from other similar projects, we can anticipate a catastrophic impact
that may take some time to materialise," Askouri told IPS.
The Merowe Dam or Merowe Multi-Purpose Hydro Project is the largest
contemporary hydropower project in Africa. Located in the town of
Merowe in northern Sudan, its main aim is to provide electricity for
Sudan's growing population.
Ahmed Saad*, who worked on one of the projects constructed for the
Merowe community by the contractors, believes that the residents of
the town are torn between appreciating the new positive changes the
dam has brought to their community, through the construction of a
hospital and schools, new services and the renovation of the
university campus, and realising the negative impact the dam has had
on their livelihoods.
"People have complained that humidity from the dam's lake has affected
the production of dates, one of the important items in their diet and
one of their main exports," said Saad, who added that it rained in
Merowe when he was there and rain is a very rare occurrence in that
area.
The residents of Merowe even started to observe the changes during the
construction of the dam. Saad, who was stationed there for a few
months, noted observations on fish output as it continued to dwindle
and dryness in areas that were wet or flooded before the dam � a
change that affected agriculture in the area.
The dam was built on the Nile's fourth cataract between 2003 and 2009
by Lahmeyer International, a German engineering consulting firm; two
Chinese companies, China International Water and Electric Corp and
Harbin Power Engineering Co; and the French energy company, Alstom. It
was funded by the Sudanese government, China Export Import Bank and
Arab banks and development organisations.
Lahmeyer International, one of the contracting companies, was tasked
with producing the Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR) and
the document was produced in April 2002.
"The companies behind the Merowe Dam have never prepared a proper
Environmental Impact Assessment Report, and the government has never
published the shoddy study that was prepared," stated Peter Bosshard,
policy director at International Rivers Network (IRN).
The IRN, an organisation that support sustainability and aims at
stopping destructive dams while promoting environmentally-conscious
water and energy solutions, has written about the environmental
impacts of the Merowe Dam since 2005.
In 2005, the international organisation received a copy of the
confidential EIAR produced by Lahmeyer International and handed it
over to EAWAG, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and
Technology, to review.
The review, published in 2006, revealed that the report does not
follow World Bank or World Commission on Dams Guidelines on writing
EIAR for dam projects. IRN then asked the contractors to suspend the
project until further inquiry into the environmental impacts could be
made.
"The riverbanks are the most fertile grounds in the region, they are
now flooded and new lakeshores are developing and due to the
fluctuations in water levels, the lake shores are difficult to use
for crop production," Professor Bernhard Wehrli, who co-authored the
EAWAG report, told IPS.
He added that productive fisheries rely on stable riverbanks and
lakeshores, and that fluctuations in water levels caused by the dam
will harm the reproduction of fish and the growth of juvenile fish.
The report brought up the Aswan High Dam of Egypt, also on the Nile
River, as an example since it has been studied numerous times, and
pointed out that the Merowe project's EIAR did not mention the High
Dam and did not look into steps taken to solve the growing
environmental problems there.
"The High Dam of Egypt revealed that there are serious consequences
for the population and the life-support systems in the downstream
part," said Wehrli.
The EAWAG team used their experience looking at dams in different
countries, such as the High Dam, to assess the possible consequences
of the Merowe Dam and suggest options to help minimise the
environmental harm.
"To preserve water in reservoirs, you minimise the surface area of a
lake for an effective dam design. Also, the outlet to the turbines
should be variable in order to use oxygen-rich water," said Wehrli,
adding that oxygen-rich water curbs serious harm to downstream
fisheries and the deterioration of water quality.
IRN calculates that the Merowe project will produce two harmful
greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide and methane, when plant matter, algae
and soil decompose. The dam's production of greenhouse gases is
equivalent to a natural gas project that generates the same amount of
electricity.
"African countries have a huge potential of renewable energy such as
wind and solar, which in many cases is not more expensive than large
dams," Bosshard said.
He added that government officials, corporations, financiers and
bureaucrats continue to favour projects like big dams. "Such projects
provide huge contracts, prestige, political control and often
kickbacks under the table," he said.
BOX
No compensation for displaced villagers
International Rivers estimates that at least 70,000 were displaced as
a result of the Merowe Dam. In November, some 1,000 people hailing
from the Manasir ethnic group, one of the groups displaced by the dam,
took matters into their own hands and travelled close to the capital
to hold a sit-in at Al Damar, the capital of River Nile State, about
300 km from Khartoum.
Dam activists and international rights organisations prompted the
European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) to look
into the case and investigate the human impacts of the dam.
"ECCHR started working on the case in 2009 after it was asked by other
organisations to consider the legal responsibilities of the companies
involved in building the dam," said Miriam Saage-Maasz, program
manager for business and human rights at ECCHR.
In May 2010, the ECCHR filed a complaint against the German company,
Lahmeyer International, at the department of public prosecution in
Frankfurt for human rights abuses due to the construction of the dam.
The criminal complaint charged two Lahmeyer employees for knowingly
flooding villages and causing displacement. The ECCHR states in their
report that Lahmeyer was aware of the 2008 flooding caused by the dam
and carried on with the project without building alternative houses
for the affected families. In 2008, 30 villages inhabited by at least
4,700 families were flooded as a result of the dam.
Years later, the Manasir have still not been compensated for their
losses. In a statement issued by the Council responsible for
organising the sit-in and protests, the protestors have asked the
government to abide by their promises and provide them with housing
and agricultural projects.
Sudanese opposition parties have asked the government to take
immediate action and meet the demands of the protestors as well as
investigate the humanitarian situation in Kajbar and Amri, the site of
two dams under construction.
(END)
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