Resettlement concerns in China

Tens of thousands of people in China are facing resettlement as a result of flood management, lake basin and urban infrastructure projects approved for World Bank funding in late March. According to the Bank’s December safeguards appraisal of one of the projects, a $100 million Bank investment in flood management in Jiangxi Wuxikou, South East China, a total of 16,104 people in 4,423 households will be resettled as a result of a planned reservoir. In a letter to the Canadian World Bank executive director Marie-Lucie Morin prior to the approval, Derek MacCuish of Canadian NGO the Social Justice Committee of Montreal wrote: “Funding should only be provided if there is a robust consultative process, and assurance that the resettlement aspects – often the weakest component in development projects – are planned, funded and implemented properly.” These are “not assured” in all of the projects, he concluded.