Tunis — The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group have authorized a Compliance Review of the Bujagali Hydropower and the Bujagali Interconnection projects in Uganda.

The Board gave the approval last week (7 September 2007) in Tunis, under the rules and procedures of the Bank Group's Independent Review Mechanism (IRM). The IRM has been established by the AfDB Group to manage complaints submitted by people, who allege they are likely to be adversely affected by an AfDB Group financed project.

The objective of a compliance review is to establish whether or not the Bank has complied with its own policies and procedures in the process of preparing and implementing the project in question. In case a none-compliance is determined, the compliance review panel will recommend remedial actions to the President and the Boards of Directors.

The Bank Group's Compliance Review and Mediation Unit (CRMU) received on the 16th of May 2006 a Request for a compliance review from Ugandan NGOs and individuals. The Requestors claimed that a number of Bank Group policies and procedures had not been complied with during the preparation of the Bujagali projects, inter alia in relation to the economic and financial analysis, environment assessments, indigenous people and cultural heritage, and resettlement of affected people.

Earlier this year, the Bank Group approved a loan of USD 110 million for the Bujagali Hydropower Project and USD 28 million for the related Interconnection Project.

The project will finance, build and operate a 250-MW run-of-the-river power plant on the White Nile River near Jinja. The associated Bujagali Interconnection Project will link the power plant to the national electricity grid via the construction of about 100 km of 220 kV and 132 kV transmission lines and associated substations.

More information about the IRM and the Request can be accessed at the AfDB website: <www.afdb.org/irm> under the link "Register of Requests".