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Archived press release

Ilusu dam won't meet international standards. Leaked report undermines case for UK support

7 September 2000

A key report shows that the planned Ilisu Dam in Turkey cannot meet international standards. The report, by ex World Bank staffer Dr Ayse Kudat for the Swiss Export Credit Agency, has been leaked to anti-dam campaigners. The report shows that the Turkish Government's “Resettlement Action Plan” does not “reflect” international standards. This means that a key test set by Trade Secretary Stephen Byers for British Government support for the project has not been satisfied.

Friends of the Earth warned today that if the UK Export Credit Guarantee Department goes ahead with backing for Balfour Beatty as a member of the consortium planning to build the Dam, the Kudat report will become a key document in any legal challenge to the Government's decision.

The report, “Ilisu Dam's Resettlement Action Plan: Achieving International Best Practice”,shows that:

• two to three times more people could be affected by the Dam than assumed by Mr Byers when he announced last Christmas that the UK Government was “minded” to back it. Balfour Beatty first put the numbers affected at 12-16,000. The DTI increased this figure to up to 36,000 in December last year. The Kudat paper says that “a large number of people are potentially affected and their numbers cannot be estimated. They range between 47,000 and 78,000"
• key data needed to meet World Bank best practice standards have not been collected. The Kudat paper says that “there are inadequate data at this stage to complete the RAP to a standard of best practice in the following areas: conditions of the displaced people and their communities; land-use patterns; use of common property resources; socio-economic situations of communities not included in the original sample; availability of unused Treasury lands in the impact area; current and projected employment situations in host communities; and a detailed analysis of households in the town of Hasankeyf.”
• contrary to World Bank standards, “a resettlement budget is yet to be prepared and is likely to exceed previous estimates. The key challenge will be for the national budget to provide a convincing commitment by the State to this budget”
• compensation and resettlement arrangements are inadequate for many of the poorest people who would be displaced by the Dam. “In the case of Ilisu about half of the affected households do not own any land and a substantial proportion do notcultivate. A mixture of livestock management, seasonal agricultural or other types of work, seasonal migration to other regions by family members, occasional remittances, subsistence gardening, etc, keep these people alive. There are severe constraints on the ability of the state to provide land-based resettlement. There is also a high risk that those who intend to self-resettle will fall into greater destitution... In addition a large percent of those who have land, have very little, increasing the number of people for whom resettlement will be challenging in terms of economic viability”.

Commenting on the report, FOE Policy and Campaigns Director Tony Juniper said:

    “This report rips away the last shreds of justification for British backing for this Dam.Mr Byers said that export credit support from the UK Government depended on the Dam meeting international standards. It doesn't. No-one knows how many people will be affected, and other basic information has not even been collected.Consultation with local people has been feeble at best. Resettlement and compensation arrangements are utterly inadequate.

    The British Government no longer has any room to manouevre. It set tests for the Dam to meet before it gets backing. A key test has been comprehensively flunked.Therefore, Balfour Beatty cannot get their export credit. Any attempt to avoid this conclusion could be a short route to judicial review.”

The full text of the Kudat paper is available from FOE Press Office