Catherine Amick
article published in the book Earth Earth "Il Manifesto" It's called
Gilgel Gibe III will be the largest dam in Ethiopia. A 240 meter high wall that hedge up the Omo River and create a reservoir 150 km long and ruined forever a very important river ecosystem upon which the lives of many local communities. The Omo River is born in the region of Oromia, and flowing for 600 km to the south, pours its waters into Lake Turkana in Kenya. Along its banks sono stati ritrovati resti di ominidi e utensili risalenti a milioni di anni fa e questo le è valso il riconoscimento di patrimonio dell’Umanità da parte dell’UNESCO. Ma soprattutto le vallate dell’Omo sono le terre dei Mursi, dei Bodi, dei Galeb, dei Karo ed di altre numerose etnie locali la cui vita è inestricabilmente legata a quella del fiume. Dalle sue inondazioni dipende l’agricoltura locale, dalle sue acque l’allevamento, dal suo scorrere la vita spirituale. Già in passato, crisi ambientali quali l’abbassamento del Lago Turkana, hanno condannato alcune di queste popolazioni alla fame ed alla migrazione e questo rischia di ripetersi in maniera decisamente più violenta. La costruzione della diga Gilgel Gibe III began in the summer of 2006 thanks to the strong relationship between EEPCo, directors electricity entirely controlled by the Ethiopian government and an Italian company, Salini Constructors SpA strong presence in several African countries in the field of major infrastructure projects. The project, costing a total of 1.4 billion euros, was awarded to Salini to direct negotiation without competitive tender, as provided for by both the Ethiopian legislation to international standards in public procurement. The same procedure for the award of the contract, had also marked the realization of the above, to Gilgel Gibe II to the north, always on the same basin. The Gilgel Gibe II system also boasts the dubious involvement of the Italian Cooperation, in October 2004 that gave Ethiopia the largest loan ever granted by the revolving fund, 220 million Euros just as Italy was preparing to cancel Ethiopia 332 million Euros of bilateral debt. In addition to policy incoherence, other elements of the story raise serious doubts about the transparency of the operation. The loan was approved with the negative opinion of the Ministry of Economy and Finance noted that the inelegibilità Ethiopia to aid credit because of the pending cancellation of debt, and the same Technical Evaluation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which, among other things, deplored the absence of a feasibility study and cost of mitigation of environmental impact in the financial plan. These anomalies are currently being investigated by the prosecution to Rome.
But who is for the energy produced by megadiga Gilgel Gibe III? Export. The full potential generated equal to 1870 MW will be fully exported to Kenya. In fact, in Ethiopia, however, we are five hydroelectric plants under construction, only 12 percent of the population has effective access to electricity mainly due to a transmission limited. Not is still unclear which financial institutions will ensure the necessary liquidity to the completion of the dam, the work started at the expense of the Ethiopian government which is pursuing a dangerous policy reindebitamento but, to date, funding of the work were not insured. Among the potential donors include the European Investment Bank, the Italian Government, the African Development Bank and commercial bank JP Morgan Chase. It seems still necessary to explain to governments and institutions that public funds should not support the development of our commercial enterprises adventures abroad at the expense of the rights and food security of indigenous peoples, but should be used per una reale lotta alla povertà, anche attraverso la fornitura di servizi essenziali quali l’elettricità. Ecco perché gli obiettivi del millennio sono una partita persa.
Scarica il rapporto Completo sul caso della Campagna per la Riforma della Banca Mondiale
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