Odessa High Voltage Grid Upgrade, Ukraine – EBRD AGM Issue Paper
Publication | 10 May, 2010In December 2005 the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) approved a EUR 25.8 million loan for the Odessa High Voltage Grid Upgrade project for the state-owned company Ukrenergo. The project, that foresaw construction of a 124 kilometre long 330 kV transmission line between the Adjalyk and Usatove substations in the Odessa region and modernisation of the substations, was Ukrenergos first experience with the international financial institutions, and inaugurated a series of further such investments.
Read moreWhat we still have to learn about Nabucco – EBRD AGM Issue Paper
Publication | 10 May, 2010Although the Nabucco gas pipeline is still nothing more than an idea on the drawing board it has attracted unprecedented political support and managed to swallow millions of euros of EU taxpayer’s money without an assessment of its effect on transit and gas supplying countries. CEE Bankwatch network urges the EBRD to properly assess all impacts it may have on societies and the environment and to consider financing alternative ways to ensure energy security, namely by energy efficiency measures.
Read moreOne Gazela, two Gazelas, three Gazelas… – EBRD AGM Issue Paper on the Gazela resettlement
Publication | 10 May, 2010The removal and resettlement of the informal Gazela settlement from beneath the Gazela Bridge on highway Corridor X over the Sava River in Belgrade’s downtown took place in August 2009. Despite the involvement of international financial institutions (the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank) and foreign development agencies (the European Agency for Reconstruction and the UK Department for International Development), the resettlement has not brought satisfactory results.
Read moreFinancial intermediaries: Do economic, environmental and social benefits lie behind the big numbers? – EBRD AGM Issue Paper
Publication | 10 May, 2010In order to prevent the collapse of the banking sector in central and eastern Europe following the outbreak of economic crisis conditions in autumn 2008, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has provided a large number of loans to private banks in the region. Yet even though this form of lending is taking on ever greater importance at the EBRD, next to no concrete details about what it is achieving and who is benefiting from it exist for the public.
Read moreD1 motorway Phase I, Slovakia – EBRD AGM Issue Paper
Publication | 10 May, 2010Both the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank approved loans for the D1 motorway Phase I project in Slovakia, which seeks to link the economically wealthier western part of Slovakia with the less developed eastern part. The project is to be financed through a public-private partnership (PPP), which has been the cause of considerable controversy in Slovakia, as has the fact that the planned route impacts protected Natura 2000 areas.
Read moreAzeri iodine plant – is this local development? – EBRD AGM Issue Paper
Publication | 10 May, 2010In 2008 the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) approved a USD 15 million senior loan for the USD 17 million Azer-Yod LLC iodine manufacturing project in Azerbaijan. While the majority of the plants products will be exported, the lives of locals are made worse than they already are because of environmental problems caused by the iodine plant.
Read moreArcelorMittal Temirtau – a never ending story – EBRD AGM Issue Paper
Publication | 10 May, 2010For three years already ArcelorMittal Temirtau (AMT), financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), has been implementing the USD 100 million Mittal Steel Temirtau – Coal Mine Modernisation project that was approved by the bank in 2007.
Read moreAntea Cement, Kruja, Albania – EBRD AGM Issue Paper
Publication | 10 May, 2010In July 2007 the Government of Albania approved the construction of a cement factory in the municipality of Kruja, 30 kilometres north of the capital Tirana. The investor, Antea Cement, a subsidiary of Greeces TITAN Cement Group, completed the construction of the plant and started production in January 2010. The plant is the second in close vicinity to and the third located in the municipality of Kruja. The project features Chinese technology with equipment from the manufacturer and contractor CBMI Construction Co. Ltd., which required bringing up to 700 Chinese workers to the site.
Read moreCivil society statement on energy access and public financing of fossil fuels
Publication | 6 May, 2010The statement, signed by 48 civil society organisations calls on international financial institutions to stop using public resources to subsidize the fossil fuel industry. These subsidies fuel overconsumption in wealthy countries, benefit an already highly profitable and well-established industry, and exacerbate many of the most urgent problems facing humanity today, not the least of which is climate change.
Read moreLetter to EBRD regarding the Sava river crossing, a new resettlement project in Serbia
Publication | 4 May, 2010Read more on the communities at the Sava river crossing also on our blog
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