PSIREN

  The PSI Subregional Trade Union Forum on ADB Energy Policy and Projects (Nov 20-21, 2010) aims to provide a forum for PSI electricity unions to exchange information about their campaigns related to ADB/IFI-supported power sector reforms and initiate a subregional campaign platform.  A total of 21 participants (4F, 17M) attended the workshop.

http://kluwerarbitrationblog.com/blog/2009/03/02/scorecard-of-investment...

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/colombia-archives-61/1786-colombia-fighting-development-banks-for-the-human-right-to-water
Colombia: Fighting Development Banks for the Human Right to Water

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.

Contains: PSI’s position on public sector reforms (New Public Management; Privatisation, PPP, PFIs; Outsourcing or contracting out; Cost-cutting budget constraints; Performance pay and performance management); Other modes of PSR (Decentralization; Separation of Policymaking and Service Delivery; Emergence of e-government; Job losses, austerity measures due to global economic crisis); World Bank review of PSR; Reasserting the public in public services;  ADB-supported PSR in power, water, health, education sectors; Union actions in PSR

ADB report shows the impacts of ADB's assistance to the state of Madhya Pradesh since 1999 in fiscal consolidation and sectoral reform programs and investments in energy, urban infrastructure (e.g., Madhya Pradesh Urban Water Supply and Environmental Improvement Project, Indore Water Supply Project), and transportation.
Impacts of MP power sector reforms include reported achievements in:
 -       restructuring of the vertically integrated MPSEB into six successor companies

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is a part of the World Bank Group which invests money in projects involving private companies. It openly promotes privatisation in many sectors. Recent activity invcludes:

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.

Ellen Unveils Govt Next 'Major Priority'
 
D. Kaihenneh Sengbeh
 
1 July 2010, The Informer (Monrovia)
 
Following Tuesday's historic debt cancellation against Liberia by the World Bank and the IMF, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Wednesday morning told the nation that her administration's next challenge remains the restoration of infrastructure particularly roads.
 

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.