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HIGHLIGHTS

Two-thirds of Muscovites oppose destruction of Khimki Forest for motorway, says new poll

August 13, 2010
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A recent public opinion poll on the controversial 1.5 billion euros Moscow-St.Petersburg motorway project finds that 67 percent of Muscovites oppose sacrificing the Khimki Forest near Moscow for the construction of the new road and reveals only 19 percent support the project in its current form.

In response to the question "What is your opinion: is it worth sacrificing the Khimki Forest Park for the advantages of the new Moscow-St. Petersburg motorway?" two-thirds of the 1800 interviewees consider this sacrifice unjust, with some respondents offering that the motorway can be built on a straighter alternative route that would leave the forest intact.

Plans to destroy the Khimki Forest for the motorway, which has potential financial backing from the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development have triggered outrage among environmentalists in Russia.

 

Quality of renewed consultations over Moscow motorway already in doubt

September 2, 2010
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Just days after the welcomed but belated announcement from Russian President Medvedev that tree felling in Khimki Forest must be halted while renewed public consultations take place over the routing of the Moscow – St. Petersburg motorway, the process is already in danger of becoming a rubber-stamping exercise. Bankwatch and the Movement to Defend Khimki Forest have asked both the European Investment Bank and European Bank for Recontruction and to ensure a full and fair consultation process.

While it had been announced that a hearing will take place on 16 September, there is no word on how any wider consultation process will be organised and whether any environmental impact assessment documents will be made available on which to base inputs, thus creating a severe risk that the exercise will be mainly cosmetic.

Meanwhile the Khimki administration is using deceptive methods to gather signatures in favour of the currently proposed route. Workers of municipal enterprises have been involved on a compulsory basis in rallies in support of the current option of the motorway. Moreover teams of pro-administration propagandists are being deployed to various settlements to spread rumours among locals that any alternative option would lead to massive demolition of residential houses – even in places far from any possible placement of the motorway.

The international financial institutions often claim that engaging in projects results in better outcomes than if they were not involved. Now is a key moment to see whether they can indeed affect real changes in this project.

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CAMPAIGN SPOTLIGHT

 

NEW DOCUMENTS

Planned routing of the Nabucco pipeline

Nabucco gas pipeline and Turkmenistan

One of the main weaknesses of the Nabucco project is its lack of guaranteed gas supply. One potential supplier named very often is Turkmenistan - a gas-rich country situated on the eastern side of the Caspian Sea. Both political and business actors involved in the Nabucco project have shown increased interest in contacts with Turkmenistan in order to create the political framework for future gas contracts.  

But Turkmenistan remains one of the most repressive regimes in the world with only one party, no free media and no civil society. We have collected an extensive list of resources describing the appalling human rights situation in the country. To access the materials see our resource collection:

Is it all about the gas? The Nabucco pipeline in light of Turkmenistan's human rights situation.

Or find out why Bankwatch believes that Nabucco should not receive public support, neither financial nor political.
 
  All new documents