A Glimpse of China’s “People to People” cooperation along the Belt and Road
Among the five pillars of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), “promoting people to people connection” is probably the least well understood, not just because of the intangible nature of such cooperation in general (compared with huge “connectivity” projects such as railroads and ports that are concrete in its literal sense), but also because traditionally China is often seen as lacking the kind of soft power needed to genuinely engage with the “hearts and minds” of the …

Kathmandu, Sept 23

The government has decided to again award the contract for development of the Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Project to China Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC), which has a dodgy record in Nepal and is blacklisted in other countries, without free competition.
The Cabinet meeting Friday has instructed the Energy Ministry to sign agreement for the 1200 MW project to the Chinese company which had applied for the project with the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM).
The OPMCM had instructed the Energy Ministry to bring a proposal …

DR Congo: Inga III hydropower project must be suspended until good governance guarantees. On September 18, 2018 40 Congolese organizations expressed concern over lack of transparency and democratic oversight of the Inga III hydropower project. Negotiations for the Inga III hydro dam project in the Democratic Republic of Congo are opaque and non-participatory, said 40 Congolese non-governmental organizations today. The organizations called for a moratorium on the signing of any collaboration agreement or other contracts for the Inga III project until the guarantees of good governance of the …

BIG WIN IN ARMENIA
YEREVAN, August  23. /ARKA/. An Armenian government session approved  a set of amendments to the Water Code, providing for tougher guidelines for the construction of small hydropower plants (HPP).   Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources  Minister Erik Grigoryan said  the amendments include the list of rivers, including those in which rare species of fish listed in the Red Book spawn, on which construction of small hydropower plants will be banned.He said the new amendments will not have retroactive effect and will not apply to already granted licenses
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Today, the Rivers without Boundaries International Coalition published in three languages the following Statement on misconduct of the World Bank’s MINIS Project.
September 4, 2018   

On Public Consultations for Terms of Reference for Regional Environmental Assessment of Dam Impacts in Selenge/Baikal Basin
The Rivers without Boundaries Coalition (RwB) regrets to inform that our attempts to request meaningful public consultations for Regional Environmental Assessment (REA) have been ignored by the Mining Infrastructure Investment Support (MINIS) Project Management Unit (PMU) and the World Bank Management officials. We have a grave concern that the …

New IBRD’s Mongolia Economic Update Report "… takes a closer look at public investment programs implemented over the past five years, which surged until 2015, contributing to large increases in public finance deficits and the public debt. Mongolia needs to review and reshape its public investment policies and decision-making processes to improve efficiency of public spending, including clear project selection and prioritization criteria, as well as proper maintenance of existing assets."
The Rivers without Boundaries (RwB) International Coalition welcomes the IBRD recommendations to fully reform current harmful practices of project …