Conclusion Report by EIB Complaints Office on Bankwatch’s complaint regarding Gazela bridge rehabilitation project Belgrade, Serbia

Official document    |    14 July 2010

Download

The report confirms Bankwatchs allegations that EIB did not pay sufficient attention during the project assessment: the severe social impact of the project should have led the EIBs competent services to exercise a cautious and targeted social assessment with a view to pro-actively identifying (and therefore promptly addressing) the major social concerns during the appraisal of the projects, while EIB documents do not contain any documental evidence of an appropriate identification of the social issues at stake.

The report further recommends drawing up an Action Plan to bring the resettlement conditions into compliance with EIBs policies and properly address the improvement in housing and related conditions and livelihood restoration. Most urgently, the project promoter should bring current temporary housing and related conditions (including access to education) to a standard acceptable by the EIB ().

Finally, the report concludes that futher disbursement of the loan may only take place if an audit confirms that all the conditions have been fulfilled and that if this does not happen by the end of 2010, the EIB will fully recall the loan.