|
read
the press release: international
organisations support chadian day of
mourning, while banks and exxon celebrate the
chad-cameroon pipeline
Photos
project overview
The Chad-Cameroon Oil and Pipeline Project
is the biggest private investment in sub
Sahara Africa today. It involves the drilling
of 300 oil wells in the Doba region in the
south of Chad and the construction of a 1070
km pipeline to transport the oil from Chad
through Cameroon to an offshore loading
facility at the Atlantic Coast. The offshore
terminal facility will be connected to the
port of Kribi by an 11 km underwater
pipeline. Total production will be 225.000
barrels a day. The project sponsors are
ExxonMobil of the U.S (operator, with 40% of
the private equity), Petronas of Malaysia
(35%) and Chevron of the U.S (25%). The
project is estimated to cost $3.7
billion.
world bank involvement
On June 6 2000, the International Finance
Corporation approved lending for the
Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project.
At the same time, the Board of the World Bank
approved two IDA loans for two related
capacity-building projects in Chad and
Cameroon. Earlier that year, the Bank had
already approved an IDA credit for the
revenue management in Chad.
The World Bank Group, while financing only
4% of the total cost, is the most important
partner in the project. The oil consortium
views the participation of the Bank as a
political risk insurance which enabled it to
raise more money on international capital
markets. The Bank presented the project as an
opportunity for Chad to come out of its acute
poverty while generating much needed revenue
for Cameroon. As a response to pressure from
donor governments and NGOs, the World Bank
appointed a high-level International Advisory
Group to oversee the project's implementation
with particular attention to social and
environmental safeguards.
In both 2001 and 2002, local groups filed
a
claim with the
World Bank Inspection Panel
.
environmental and social concerns
NGOs in the two countries and abroad
called upon the Bank to postpone the decision
for two years until an adequate Environmental
Impact Assesment (EIA) had been conducted.
After approval of the project by the Bank
they insisted on a well-designed project that
would take into account the general interests
of the citizens of the two countries.
However, by mid 2002, with construction of
the pipeline and drilling of oil wells well
underway, the Chad-Cameroon pipeline has
caused numerous environmental and social
problems.
Cameroon has some of the most biologically
diverse and important forests in Africa.The
project threatens valuable ecosystems,
particularly in Cameroon's coastal
rainforest. The corridor of the pipe cuts
straight across these sensitive ecosystems.
Project-related upgrading of existing
seasonal roads has lead to logging and
illegal poaching in otherwise inaccessible
areas. The pipeline traverses several major
rivers and construction has caused already
oil spills and pollution of the water system,
much-needed for drinking water. Although the
consortium has foreseen a plan against
leakages and oil spills, this has been
described by the U.S Office of the
Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide as
'fundamentally flawed'.
Thousands of people have had their lands
expropriated, crops and other plants
destroyed and water sources polluted without
adequate compensation. Some victims received
no compensation at all, as in the case of the
Bakola and Bagyeli ('pygmees') in the forest
zone in Cameroon.
Although about 5,000 jobs were promised at
the beginning of the project, the situation
today is very precarious as most jobs are
given out to expatriates, while locals are
only called in for manual labour in a
rotative manner. The influx of largely male
job seekers into the project area has led to
serious social disruption of the communities,
with prostitution, alcohol abuse, HIV/AIDS
and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases all
on the rise.
The Bank's claim that communities
supported and NGOs provided input into the
project must be questioned. The U.S State
Department confirms that the Cameroonian
goverment impedes work of NGOs and that its
security forces conduct illegal searches and
harass citizens. Corruption in the country is
rampant; Cameroon is actually the world's
"most corrupt" country according to
Transparency International. This effectively
hampers true citizen participation in
decision-making about the project. The
Chadian human rights situation is highly
problematic as well. The government has still
not investigated massacres of hundreds of
unarmed civilians that took place between
1997 and 1998 in the country's oil producing
region. The situation in both countries makes
it unlikely that the project will benefit
those who need it most.
In conclusion, the pipeline is a classic
example of a large-scale development project
that will benefit multinational corporations
at the expense of the poor, and that will
exacerbate inequities and human rights
abuses.
more information
read
more
on this site
Traversing
People's Lands; How the World Bank finances
community disruption in Cameroon
Report
Broken Promises; Profit at any cost?
Video Broken
Promises; If this is development, you can
keep it!
Read about the Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline
project on the web site of
FoE Cameroon
(in
French)
|
