E-Link: World Bank Upholds Nigeria Project (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

  WORLD BANK UPHOLDS NIGERIA PROJECT
  
  LAGOS, Nigeria, August 7, 1997 (ENS) - The World Bank says it is fully
  satisfied with the progress of a flood protection project in the Nigerian
  capital, Lagos, in response to claims that the $63 million scheme would
  force the eviction of more than a million of the city's residents from
  their homes.
  
  Some community groups have voiced fears that the plan would displace up to
  a sixth of the city's population.
  
  The World Bank's Director for Nigeria, Yaw Ansu, Wednesday issued a vote of
  confidence in the Lagos Drainage and Sanitation project after thoroughly
  inspecting its construction and internal documents.
  
  Ansu reaffirmed the Bank's belief that the project, set up in 1993, is
  vital to protecting Lagos from the effects of severe flooding which have
  battered the capital on a regular basis. The floods cause water and power
  shortages, cripple transportation, and create an unhealthy environment by
  overrunning sewage systems and polluting the drinking water supply.
  
  Since Lagos employs over fifty percent of Nigeria's skilled workers, and is
  also home to half the country's manufacturing industries, Ansu said the
  scheme would assure the city's future as Nigeria's industrial center, and
  improve living conditions for some 225,000 residents living in areas most
  susceptible to flooding.
  
  Discounting claims that the project would force the relocation of up to a
  million people in the city, Ansu said, "There is simply no way the Bank
  would ever accept the eviction of perhaps one-in-six of Lagos' residents
  without compelling justification, extensive planning, and identifying the
  huge resources needed to do it. Some 286 people have had to move to allow
  workers to build or clear stormwater drains, but most of them were
  re-settled in comfortable new homes close to where they lived originally.
  These were paid for by Lagos State under the terms of the project. A few
  people decided to move elsewhere and received state compensation."
  
  As part of the Lagos Drainage and Sanitation Project, the Bank has also
  financed studies to develop plans for urban renewal and to showcase an
  urban renewal project in Badia, one of the "most blighted" neighborhoods in
  Lagos. Covering about 25 hectares (62 acres), the project would upgrade
  access roads, footpaths and drainage, and the provide better sanitary,
  school, and health facilities.
  
  "This project is to show how living conditions for the poor can be improved
  at an affordable cost," Ansu said, "without wholesale resettlement and
  dislocation. Eventually, we would hope that this pilot project would be
  widely copied in other parts of Lagos."
  
  
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