Environmentalists ask World Bank to Stop African Oil Pipeline
10/7/98
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Title: Environmentalists ask World Bank to Stop African Oil Pipeline
Source: Reuters
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 10/7/98
Byline: Patrick Connole
WASHINGTON - Environmentalists called on the World Bank on Monday to
shelve loan plans for a $3.5 billion West African oil pipeline, saying the
proposal favours oil companies over the poor and threatens the
environment.
The Environmental Defence Fund and Friends of the Earth said the project,
which is meant to transport oil from Chad to Cameroon's Atlantic coast for
export, was an example of the World Bank's misguided approach to energy
funding.
"The World Bank has the ability to take the lead in investing in renewable
energy, wind and solar," said Andrea Durbin, Friends of the Earth
international programme director.
Instead, she said the World Bank had focused on backing large, fossil-fuel
burning projects aimed at helping urban areas for industrial, commercial
use. Durbin said the Bank should look to aid small-scale efforts for rural
populations and the poor.
The World Bank is deciding whether to grant $365 million in loans to
secure the construction of the pipeline by a group of oil giants led by
U.S.-based Exxon Corp. , and partners Royal Dutch/Shell Group and France's
Elf Aquitaine .
The pipeline would pump and pipe Chadian oil to the sea through a 650-mile
(1,050-kilometre) pipeline from southern Chad to Cameroon's port of Kribi.
It is hoped that the pipeline would cut poverty in landlocked Chad and
generate revenue for Cameroon.
But environmentalists and human rights groups object to the pipeline,
demanding strict guidelines on its impact on the land, and protection or
compensation for communities.
They say ecologically valuable rain forests and wildlife refuges would be
harmed by the pipeline construction.
World Bank officials deny the charges that the pipeline would do such
harm, and note that the final decision on the design and scope of the
project has not been decided.
"The project is still being designed. We still have to be satisfied no
irreparable harm will come to the population of either country," Robert
Calderisi, World Bank head of external affairs for Africa, told Reuters.
He noted that the World Bank has backed funds for local projects in Chad
for aiding households in using energy efficiently.
The proposed pipeline project would develop oil fields in the Doba region
of southern Chad. From there, a buried pipeline would be built to
Cameroon's Atlantic coast, where pumping stations and an offshore marine
export terminal would be constructed. The project could be operational in
seven years.
The World Bank is weighing helping Chad and Cameroon with their equity
contribution in the pipeline - $70 million for Cameroon and $45 million
for Chad - roughly 10 percent of the pipeline project's cost, along with
related loan facilities.
If the pipeline were to proceed, Chad would join a slim list of African
oil-producing nations, including OPEC members Nigeria and Libya, along
with Angola, the Congo and Gabon, which was once a member of the oil
cartel.
In a related effort, the environmentalists called on the World Bank to
make available an internal review of its development operations, the
Portfolio Improvement Project.
The findings, compiled in 1996 and 1997, showed the World Bank had not met
its obligations, and revealed an institution reluctant to correct problems
in delivering assistance to its clients, the groups said.
(C) Reuters Limited 1998.