Counter Balance

A coalition of international non-governmental organisations welcomed this week’s announcement by the European Investment Bank [1] that it would no longer consider financing for the Gibe III hydroelectric project in Ethiopia.

Counter Balance, Campagna per la Riforma della Banca Mondiale (CRBM), Friends of Lake Turkana (FoLT) and International Rivers launched a campaign last week to halt the Gibe 3 Dam in Ethiopia (www.stopgibe3.org ). The Gibe 3 project contractor, Salini Costruttori, reacted publishing misleading and highly debatable information in two related press releases dated March 26 […]

Campagna per la Riforma della Banca Mondiale * Counterbalance * Friends of Lake Turkana * International Rivers Joint press release International NGOs are calling for the halt of the destructive Gibe 3 Dam on Ethiopia’s Omo River. The dam threatens the land and livelihoods of 500,000 tribal people in Southern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya. By […]

Rome, Italy — A critical water-passage tunnel in the newly inaugurated Gilgel Gibe 2 hydropower project in Ethiopia reportedly collapsed this week. With a price tag of EUR 374 million and a capacity of 420 megawatts, Gilgel Gibe 2 is currently Ethiopia’s biggest power plant. The project channels the water discharged from the Gilgel Gibe […]

Clarification on the European Investment Bank’s role in Ethiopia’s Gibe 3 Dam A statement issued June 4 by the European Investment Bank contradicts a June 3 announcement made to Friends of Lake Turkana that the Bank had withdrawn its consideration of the Gibe 3 Dam in Ethiopia. The June 4 statement is consistent with the […]

Lilian Ikal Angelei of grassroots organization Friends of the Lake Turkana in Kenya speaks about EIB involvement in the Gilgel Gibe III dam in Ethiopia during April’s 2009 “World in Crisis” conference in Prague.

The study illustrates the dangers that accompany large energy infrastructure projects whenever the interests of a major private company coincide not only with weak governance in the host country but also very clear willingness from financial institutions to provide funding, in spite of alarming project oversights and impacts. The study shows how goals to eradicate […]

The European Investment Bank has been involved in a number of large dam projects in recent years, many of them in Africa. All could have been improved – sometimes significantly so – by more careful planning and better implementation standards. Despite making vague references to the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams, the EIB […]