World Bank gets back to helping the world

World Bank backs Laos dam project

The World Bank has agreed to back a controversial hydroelectric dam project in Laos, one of the poorest countries in South East Asia.

At its board meeting in Washington, the bank said it would provide loans and guarantees for the $1.2bn project.

The decision comes after nearly 10 years of discussions with the Laos government.

But critics say the environmental and social costs of the dam, called Nam Theun 2, are far too high.

Laos is a poor, landlocked country which has few viable industries.

But it does have plenty of mountains and rivers, and that is why it is pinning its hopes for the future on hydroelectric power.

Nam Theun 2 is the country's largest dam project, on a tributary of the mighty Mekong.

It is designed to produce electricity for export to neighbouring Thailand, earning valuable foreign currency that Laos says it will use to alleviate poverty.

But critics are not convinced. They say the dam will damage the environment and undermine the livelihoods of tens of thousands of local villagers.

For the World Bank, the dam is also risky. In the past, it has faced a massive outcry after backing similar dams in other developing countries.

The bank says this time it is confident that the dam's benefits will outweigh the negative impacts.

This is a wonderful announcement. Look up "NGOs: fighting poverty, hurting the poor"; it is one of the best articles I have ever seen in Foreign Policy magazine, and that is saying a lot.

The environment will barely be affected, the local population will flourish. Those who oppose the dam are largely uneducated teenagers looking for a rush but too cheap to buy drugs. This dam will provide jobs for the local population as well as electricity. Additionally, all the land required for the dam is being purchased, at an excellent price, by the Laotian government. Those locals are getting an excellent deal even before construction starts. Once the dam is complete, the new jobs will provide locals with money to spend. When money and electricity is in an area, that area will develop. Living standards will skyrocket. This has been proven time and time again by earlier world bank projects, which helped bring 300 million (if my memory is correct) Chinese out of poverty.
Relatively tiny portions of land are being used for this dam, and there are no important animals in the area that will not move away under their own power. The benefits far outweigh costs, and the protestors should be ashamed for their actions, which have prevented the World Bank and similar institutions from raising hundreds of millions out of poverty.