Balfour Beaten!
Balfour Beatty, lead contractor for the Ilisu Dam , has announced its withdrawal
from the project on social, environmental and economic grounds. Its Italian partner,
Impregilo, has also withdrawn.
Public furore around this project has helped to make Ilisu so controversial that
even a huge and infamous multinational like Balfour Beatty had to listen. So
a huge Thank You for all your support.
The news was greeted with jubilation by campaigners and by those whose homes,
lands and livelihoods were threatened by the dam.
The UK Export Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD) and the US Ex- Im Bank, from
whom Balfour Beatty sought funding, have now ceased to be involved in the project.
The project failed to meet the conditions laid down by the agencies for export
credit support.
We will continue to monitor the project closely, although the chances are that
Ilisu has now effectively been stopped. We are now calling for the lessons of
Ilisu to be learned. We want ECGD and other export credit agencies to adopt legally-binding
human rights, environment and development standards - so that other 'Ilisus' cannot
happen in future.
Kate Geary Ilisu Dam campaign