US multinational Bechtel is seeking compensation from the Bolivian government after protests forced the cancellation of its contract to provide water in Cochabamba. The case has been accepted by the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, a little-known arm of the World Bank Group. Campaigners are preparing to challenge the process.
Private Sector
Accountability
News
Bank downplays Lesotho dam corruption
The World Bank has recently announced that it will not be taking action following allegations of corruption levelled at corporate clients in Peru and Lesotho. The Peru goldmine and Lesotho dam cases lead some Bank-watchers to question the Bank’s high-profile commitment to rooting out corruption.
Environment
News
Tanzanian authorities attempt to silence activists on Bulyanhulu case
Tanzanian authorities have arrested Rugemeleza Nshala, President of the Lawyers Environmental Action Team (LEAT), and raided the house of another LEAT lawyer, Tundu Lissu in connection with their investigations into abuses and irregularities at the World Bank-backed Bulyanhulu gold mine.
Infrastructure
News
Ugandan dam approved
In late December the World Bank approved the Bujagali dam, Uganda.
Finance
News
HIPC not delivering debt relief
The Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative is failing to deliver debt relief, reports the Financial Times (9/10/01).
Private Sector
News
MIGA responds to critics
The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) has issued a 13-page response to the report Risky Business published by Friends of the Earth and other NGOs this summer.
Social services
News
New report on Bank’s private sector strategy
The World Bank’s proposed new private sector development strategy is criticised in a response from Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU).
Private Sector
Analysis
At whose disposal? Institutionalising the market
The latest World Development Report (WDR) places the market at the centre of any institutional framework for development and confirms the Bank’s neoliberal approach to development (October 2001).
Social services
News
Bank private sector strategy opposed
NGOs have expressed “dismay” at the World Bank’s proposed private sector strategy.
Infrastructure
News
Nigerian groups demand moratorium
In August, about 100 civil society organisations, most based in the Niger Delta, halted a consultation with Peter Woicke, Executive Vice President of the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
