• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Bankwatch

  • About us
    • Our vision
    • Who we are
    • 30 years of Bankwatch
    • Donors & finances
    • Get involved
  • What we do
    • Campaign areas
      • Beyond fossil fuels
      • Rights, democracy and development
      • Finance and biodiversity
      • Funding the energy transformation
      • Cities for People
    • Institutions we monitor
      • European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
      • European Investment Bank
      • Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
      • Asian Development Bank (ADB)
      • EU funds
    • Our projects
    • Success stories
  • Publications
  • News
    • Blog posts
    • Press releases
    • Stories
    • Podcast
    • Us in the media
    • Videos
  • Русский

Home > Press release > Ahead of Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank meeting in Luxembourg, over 89 000 petition bank to drop Nenskra dam project in Georgia

Ahead of Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank meeting in Luxembourg, over 89 000 petition bank to drop Nenskra dam project in Georgia

Luxembourg, Prague, Tbilisi – Representatives from the “Stop Nenskra” campaign [1] showed up in Luxembourg at the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) annual meeting on July 12th and delivered a petition to the international development banks calling them on not to finance the Nenskra hydropower plant project [2] in Svaneti, Georgia.

12 July 2019

The petition, which aims to protect a precious river valley in Svaneti from the construction of a 280 MW hydropower plant with a 125m high dam, included over 89 000 signatures from the international community. It targeted two European banks, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

Europeans called on the banks to pull out of the controversial project that threatens to damage the pristine environment and livelihood of local villagers, and which would create considerable economic risks for the country, as confirmed by a recently leaked contract between the Georgian government and the company behind the Nenskra project [3], as well as earlier reports by the International Monetary Fund [4] and the World Bank [5].

Both of the targeted international development banks, the EIB and the EBRD, have approved loans for the Nenskra project, in the amount of USD150 million and USD 214 million respectively, but neither of them have signed the final loan contracts yet.

The petition was initiated by Bankwatch and its member group in Tbilisi, Georgia – Green Alternative. Founder of Green Alternative, Manana Kochladze, who submitted the petition and signatures to EIB and EBRD representatives in Luxembourg, said:

“This petition showed the power of global support, how tens of thousands of Europeans raised their voices for the local indigenous people of Svaneti and stood in solidarity for their protest. If implemented, the Nenskra hydropower plant could cause irreparable damage to the untouched river and mountain ecosystem in Svaneti.  It would deprive the local indigenous communities of their ancestral lands. Along with this, the Nenskra project will cause fiscal risks for the country, a proper environmental assessment has not been conducted, it does not comply with the country’s legislation and its processes are not transparent. We believe that all of these reasons, along with the massive public outcry against Nenskra will be enough evidence for the international development banks to reconsider their financial support and pull out of this controversial project.”

For more information contact:

Manana Kochladze
Green Alternative, Founder
manana@bankwatch.org
Phone (WhatsApp): +995 599 916 647

Rusudan Panozishvili
Media and Community Coordinator
Panozishvili@greenalt.org

Download photos and videos from the event

Notes for editors:

[1] https://act.wemove.eu/campaigns/stop-nenskra-en

[2] https://bankwatch.org/nenskra

[3] https://bankwatch.org/press_release/in-georgia-leaked-contract

[4] https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/CR/Issues/2017/09/27/Georgia-Fiscal-Transparency-Evaluation-45274

[5] http://greenalt.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Assessment_of_HPP_Cost_2018.pdf

Never miss an update

We expose the risks of international public finance and bring critical updates from the ground – straight to your inbox.





Institution: EIB | EBRD | AIIB

Location: Georgia

Project: Hydropower development in Georgia | Nenskra hydropower plant, Georgia

Tags: hydropower | petition

Footer

CEE Bankwatch Network gratefully acknowledges EU funding support.

The content of this website is the sole responsibility of CEE Bankwatch Network and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.

Unless otherwise noted, the content on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 License

Your personal data collected on the website is governed by the present Privacy Policy.

Get in touch with us

  • Bluesky
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • YouTube