PSIREN

The 42nd ADB Board of Governors Annual Meeting (AGM) was held in Bali from 2-5 May 2009.

Contents: Background;  PSI/GUFs agenda in Tashkent;  PSI/GUFs activities in Tashkent;  May 1  Meeting with ADB President Kuroda;  PSI speaks at May 2 Forum on Women Empowerment;  May 3 PSI/GUFs Forum on “Workers and Unions in ADB Operations”;  PSI gives ADB ‘Very Poor’ score in Madya Pradesh power project;   May 1-4  Meetings with country delegations; Recommended next steps from PSI/GUFs wrap-up session.

Oct 09 Final report of Castalia consultants which will be basis of privitization of MIWD thru PPP. Board of Directors now in the process of signing a MOA with IFC for the conduct of the feasibility study.
Executive Summary:

April 2010 -- A brief analysis produced by the World Bank's private sector development unit shows that the value of privatization transactions in developing countries fell by 70 per cent between 2007 and 2008. However the pro-privatization unit of the Bank notes with evident relief: "Concerns that the crisis would produce a wave of nationalizations appear to have been unfounded." It states that most government takeovers of collapsing banks and other firms were in industrialized countries and of a temporary nature.

June 2010 – The Karnataka government is in the process of seeking additional funds from the World Bank for development works like creation of sewage and drinking water system in the new areas of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) or the Greater Bangalore City Corporation. The BBMP was created in 2007 by merging eight urban local bodies with the then Bangalore City Corporation. At present, there are 198 wards in BBMP and most of them lack basic civic amenities.

New Delhi, June 23, 2010 (ANI): Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Dr. Farooq Abdullah, called upon Asian Development Bank (ADB) and other multilateral agencies to considerably step up their support to renewable energy projects in developing countries.

In April 2010, the International Financial Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s private sector arm, agreed to finance Chinese investment in a Tanzanian commercial complex in Dar es Salaam.

July 2010 - It may not be the most glamorous export, but selling treated sewage water is seen as a way Japan can profit from billions of tons of water now being dumped into the sea.As early as autumn, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism will conduct an experiment exporting highly treated sewage water from Chiba and Kawasaki cities to Australia.

West Seti Hydroelectric Project (WSHP) involves the construction and operation of 750-MW hydroelectric power plant on Seti river in far western region of Nepal on BOOT basis for 30 years. Project sponsor is Australian-based Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (SMEC); West Seti Hydro Limited (WSHL) is 100% subsidiary of SMEC. Construction will be by China Machinery & Equipment Import and Export Corporation under lump sum price turnkey contract signed in April 2005; construction period is for 5 years.

Briscoe:  War or peace on the Indus?
By John Briscoe, April 03, 2010 http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=232342
 

New World Bank Access to Information Policy Takes Effect July 1
WASHINGTON, June 3, 2010—The World Bank said today that it is on track to begin to implement the first phase of its new policy on Access to Information on July 1, one of several major reforms the Bank has undertaken to increase its effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability.
 

The recomunalisation of water provision – Reflections on two different cases
Provides two case study of privatized water services returned to public hands, in Potsdam and Grenoble. Paper presented at the workshop "The Public: Alternatives to Privatisation" during the European Summer University of Attac, 1st to 6th August 2008, Saarbru?cken.
 

The privatization of public water utilities has been one of the most controversial aspects of neoliberal restructuring in the late 20th century. Powerful social movements that aim to protect water from corporate control have emerged across the planet, particularly in the global South. Since water privatization affects people from all walks of life many protests have been organized by broad-scale social movement coalitions which have included labour, environmental, consumer, social justice and indigenous groups.

Cross-sectoral partnerships are increasingly seen as a solution to the most pressing social problems facing contemporary societies. We present an exploratory quantitative examination of this argument, using primary and secondary data from 46 UK local government service departments.

Through the water war of April, 2000, the poor of the city and countryside of Cochabamba (Bolivia) succeeded in expelling the multinational corporation which tried to charge them for this most basic common good. Between 2003 and 2005, the poor of the entire country drove out the neoliberal model of water management. Now it is community management of water that is the unresolved challenge.

SOURCE: