Updates on the European Investment Bank

Zagreb solid waste municipal incinerator: an unsuitable quick-fix for Zagreb’s waste problems

Open letter to donors contributing to the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility

Bankwatch Mail 32

In this issue: The need for diversification in the Russian economy: a role for the EBRD? * Sakhalin II problems persist despite ownership fight * EBRD tries to shrug off devastating Kashagan oilfield impacts * Aarhus Convention ignored by IFIs in Albania * Squeezing the poor: the EBRD’s role in privatisation in Montenegro * More EBRD money to fund more Mittal tragedy in Kazakhstan?

Follow-up letter to the EBRD after consultations on the Croation Country Strategy

Letter to the EIB requesting a postponed vote on the Bujagali Hydropower Project, Uganda

The letter contains the following enclosures: An Analysis of "Bujagali II Economic and Financial Evaluation Study Final Reports" by Pete Tsournos. Concerns About the Impacts of the Bujagali Dam Project On Endangered Fishes and Fisheries in the Victoria Nile by Les Kaufman. Lake Victoria and The Proposed Hydrological Curve Change by Daniel Kull. Board of Executive Directors, European Investment Bank Cc: Philippe Maystadt, President European Investment Bank Re: Outstanding Concerns on Bujagali Hydropower Project, Uganda request for postponing of the vote

The Chad-Cameroon Oil & Pipeline Project: a project non-completion report

With the production of its Project Implementation Completion Report (ICR) in December 2006, the World Bank signaled that its role in the Chad-Cameroon pipeline project had ended. However, numerous outstanding environmental, livelihood and compensation problems remain for those impacted by the project. This report argues that the World Bank must revisit the Extractive Industries Review’s recommendations and fundamentally rethink its approach to extractive industries and other high risk projects if these types of investment are to be more than a reckless gamble with the lives of the poor.

NGO submission to the EIB public consultation on its anti-corruption policy

The bulk of NGO recommendations on the EIBs Anti-Corruption Policy are contained in the notes below, but it is also possible to make a few general points. We welcome EIBs commitment in the preamble of the policy to the principle of not tolerating corruption, fraud or other illegal acts in any of its activities or operations. However, we believe that the Banks policy as it stands does not go anything like far enough. The Bank must be much more proactive in combating corruption, acting earlier to pre-empt illegal acts and more aggressively to root them out after they occur.

Lost in Transportation: The European Investment Banks bias towards road and air transport

This report finds that the multi-million euro loans of the European Investment Bank (EIB) in the transport sector are helping to fuel climate change and have made little or no contribution to the more progressive goals of the EU White Paper on transport, especially those on modal shift and decoupling transport from economic growth. The report analyses the EUR 112 billion that the EIB provided to transport projects in the period 1996-2005.

Bankwatch Mail 31

In this issue: Planes, loans and automobiles * Kyrgyzstan’s government rejected HIPC shackles thanks to public pressure * Editorial: Double standards for how much longer? * The nuclear white elephant in Bulgaria’s room * Rospuda interview – EU law in the driving seat * First PPP motorway in Russia to cause problems for thousands of people * Your voice in Europe: support the Green paper on urban transport

Complaint to the EBRD Independent Recourse Mechanism regarding the Vlora Thermal Power project