Advocacy group calls to suspend Merowe Dam construction
Mar 23, 2006 (LONDON) — An advocacy group called to suspend the construction of Merowe Dam in northern Sudan urging to address negative environmental impact of this project.
In a report published today, the U.S.-based International Rivers Network (IRN) calls on the companies that are developing the project – China’s CCMD Consortium, Alstom, Lahmeyer International and ABB – to suspend project construction until the environmental impacts have been adequately addressed.
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Merowe Dam in Sudan, the largest hydropower project currently under construction in Africa, is of poor quality and does not address many of the project’s potential impacts on the environment.
These are the main findings of an independent review of the EIA which was just published by EAWAG, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology.
The main conclusions of the EAWAG review are: poor quality EIA, the strong fluctuations will erode the river banks, making it difficult for farmers to collect water and fish in the river and reservoir, sedimentation will seriously diminish the capacity of the project to generate electricity, the dam will block fish migration.
Regarding water quality and health “the pollution and the decomposition of organic matter may create public health hazards for people drinking water or
eating fish from the reservoir” the report said.
Finally on the climate change: the Merowe Project will emit roughly the same amount of greenhouse gases as a natural gas project generating the same amount of electricity.
International Rivers Network (IRN) received a copy of the confidential
EIA in 2005, and encouraged EAWAG to conduct the independent review.
Peter Bosshard, Policy Director of International Rivers Network, says: “The Merowe Dam will have serious environmental impacts on the Nile Valley, the lifeline for Northern Sudan. The project violates Sudan’s Environmental Protection Act and all internationally accepted environmental standards.
The Merowe Dam could not be built in most other countries, and is a test case for the commitment of leading hydropower companies to the minimal standards of environmental stewardship. The companies that are developing the project should suspend construction until the serious environmental impacts have been adequately addressed.”
The Merowe Dam on the Nile is the largest hydropower project currently under construction in Africa. Once completed in 2008/09, the dam’s reservoir will be 200 kilometers long.
The dam will produce some 1250 megawatts of electricity and eight transmission lines with a combined length of 1760 kilometers (1100 miles) will connect it to the national grid via a station in Merowe.
The project, located about 350 kilometres north of the capital, Khartoum, already had displaced 50,000 people from fertile land along the Nile to the Nubian Desert where the land is barren with little groundwater supply.
The $1.5 billion Merowe Dam, designed by Lahmeyer International of Germany and built by CCMD of China, is to produce 1,250 megawatts of electricity and provide water for the irrigation of the potentially very fertile Dongola reach of the Nile valley.
The Chinese CCMD joint venture, made up of the China International Water & Electric Corporation and Sinohydro Corporation (formerly China National Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Corp.), has beaten world-renowned construction contractors to win the bid.
Arab financial institutions, including the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, the Saudi Fund for Development, and The Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, are providing 700 million dollars in project financing. More than 300 million dollars is coming from The Export-Import Bank of China, which is backed by several Western commercial banks. Sudan’s government is covering the remaining 500 million dollars.
On the net:
– The review of the Merowe Dam EIA is available from IRN, and is accessible from http://www.eawag.ch/services/pr/dokumente06/20060323/e_index.html
– For background information about the Merowe Dam, see
www.irn.org/programs/merowe/ (IRN) and www.merowedam.com/en/index.php
(project authority).
– Nature is covering the review of the Merowe EIA in its March 23 issue. See http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7083/index.html
(ST)