Private Sector

Social services

News

Company seeks compensation after Bolivians force re-nationalisation

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.

25 March 2002

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.

25 March 2002

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.

17 January 2002

Infrastructure

News

Ugandan dam approved

In late December the World Bank approved the Bujagali dam, Uganda.

1 January 2002

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).

2 November 2001

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.

2 November 2001

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).

2 November 2001

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).

2 November 2001 | Briefings

Social services

News

Bank private sector strategy opposed

NGOs have expressed “dismay” at the World Bank’s proposed private sector strategy.

2 November 2001

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).

10 September 2001