X-From_: tgray  Wed Nov 11 09:39:00 1992
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.biosph-l
Date:         Wed, 11 Nov 1992 09:39:03 PST
Reply-To:     Tom Gray <tgray@IGC.APC.ORG>
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Comments:     Originally-From: Tom Gray <tgray@igc.apc.org>
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From:         Tom Gray <tgray@IGC.APC.ORG>
Subject:      IPS: India Dam Funds Delayed

/* Written 12:12 am  Oct 24, 1992 by newsdesk@igc.apc.org in igc:ips.englibrary
*/
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: ENVIRONMENT: Funding meeting for India dam project again delayed


washington, oct 21 (ips/jim lobe) -- in a further delay for a key
meeting to decide the fate of a major dam project in india, the
world bank's executive directors are to meet here thursday with
former u.n. development programme chief bradford morse who has
called on the bank to suspend its participation in the project.

as a result, the thrice-delayed meeting on the bank's continued
funding of the 12-billion-dollar sardar sardovar projects is now
scheduled to take place friday.

''we think it's a good sign,'' said laurie udall, staff counsel
for the environmental defence fund (edf), which has played a key
role in lobbying against the dam.

she added that the directors representing britain, japan, and
the netherlands -- which have been undecided on the projects --
could be brought around by morse and the rest of his team of
independent consultants who are assessing the projects.

the plans for sardar sarovar, which includes the construction
of 30 large dams and hundreds of smaller ones along the narmada
river valley, are designed to provide water, irrigation, and more
electricity to three arid states in western india.

the bank, which has already provided 450 million dollars in
loans for the projects, has been asked to approve a new, 350-
million-dollar loan by india an the three state governments of
gujarat, maharashtra, and madhya pradesh.

but the projects, which environmental groups charge ignore the
area's ecology and the plight of more than 120,000 families
affected by the construction, have encountered unprecedented
opposition, both internationally and from the communities which
face resettlement.

last fall, then-bank president barber conable formed an
unprecedented independent review committee headed by morse to look
into the situation and make recommendations.

in june, morse submitted a 363-page report which concluded that
the projects ''as they stand are flawed'' and warned that
''resettlement and rehabilitation of all those displaced are not
possible under prevailing circumstances and (their) environmental
impacts have not been properly considered or adequately
address
(story received incomplete)
p063
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