[asia-apec 1046] World Bank in India

[PAN Asia Pacific]

For your information:

In the APPA resolutions, participants condemned the construction of
a dam financed by the World Bank in Southern India.  We also
condemned World Bank financed mega-power projects in general.  

Two weeks ago, IPS reported that the World Bank was going ahead
with a $210 million energy loan to India as part of $1 billion
loan scheme that will take place over the next eight years.  The
bulk of these loans will go towards the construction of power
projects in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

The initial loan is aimed at "improving power transmission and
privatising the state's public-sector electricity board."  The
Andhra Pradesh programme will be modeled on recent World Bank
loans to the eastern state of Orissa.

In Orissa, the World Bank offered a 10-year, $375 million loan to
finance the construction of a privatised coal-fired plant. 
Several foreign TNCs were commissioned for the construction and
others have been involved in investment.  The project reduced the
price of power for industry by 26 percent, and a number of foreign
companies relocated or opened new operations in the area to take
advantage of the low energy costs.  Meanwhile, for residents in the
area, electricity rates rose by up to five times and privatisation
schemes demanded by the World Bank increased unemployment.  The
plant forced thousands off their lands, and the local river, once
a source of drinking water and fish, is now completely polluted.

The IPS also reports that the project in Andhra Pradesh will
utilise the burning of sludge, known as 'orimulsion'-- a process
that has been rejected in North America and Europe because of its
toxicity.

(see Abid Aslam, "World Bank approves power loan", IPS, Feb. 18,
1999)

-Devlin, PAN-AP