Ombla hydropower plant: public money down the sinkhole

Today Bankwatch member group Zelena akcija/Friends of the Earth – Croatia held an action today outside the offices of the EBRD in Zagreb, calling on the bank not to approve a planned loan of up to EUR 123 million for the Ombla hydropower plant project. You can see some images from the demo here.

The loan is due for approval by the EBRD’s Board of Directors next Tuesday, 8th November, but a whole range of environmental, economic and procedural concerns about the project remain unaddressed.

Last week 34 Croatian and international NGOs address bank staff and directors in a letter calling on the bank not to go ahead with the project, but a short response from the bank mentions only mitigation measures.

We didn’t ask for mitigation measures. There are some things that just can’t be mitigated. At the very least a new Environmental Impact Assessment needs to be carried out, instead of using one from 1999.