News & Visuals

Panel to visit Qinghai in October

​WASHINGTON, September 21, 1999--The independent Inspection Panel for the World Bank will begin its investigation into whether the Bank has observed its policies and procedures in the preparation of the China Western Poverty Reduction Project with a visit to Qinghai in October. The main purpose of the visit is to meet with local people who will be affected if the Qinghai portion of the project goes ahead. Panel Chairperson, Jim MacNeill, accompanied by Panel member, Edward Ayensu, will lead a small team that will also stop in Beijing to meet with Chinese officials as well as with staff of the World Bank office.

The Panel will return to Washington end of October to interview staff and conduct document studies. Its investigation report is expected to be delivered to the Bank early next year.

The investigation begins following the World Bank's Board of Executive Directors decision on September 9, 1999 to authorize an investigation. The Board asked the Panel to conduct an investigation into whether the Bank has violated one or more of some Bank operational policies and procedures when designing and appraising the Western Poverty Reduction Project. The policies in question are on Disclosure of Information; Environmental Assessment, Indigenous Peoples, Involuntary Resettlement, Pest Management, Safety of Dams, Retroactive Financing, and Investment Lending: Identification to Board Presentation.

Earlier on, in June 1999, the Panel had received a Request for Inspection where the Requesters claimed that if the Qinghai portion of the project is approved and implemented, it will affect the lives and livelihoods of Tibetan and Mongolian ethnic peoples in Dulan who will suffer potentially irreversible harm. They maintained that the resettlement of the nearly 60,000 new migrants will directly and adversely impact 4,000 local people and will have indirect impacts on the entire county including a serious risk of escalation of ethnic tension and resource conflicts.

For further information see Press Release of September 17th, 1999 posted on this site.