The board of directors of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved the recommendations of the Independent Review Mechanism (IRM) to bring the Sendou coal-fired power plant project in Senegal into compliance with Bank policies and procedures.
The compliance review report was approved with a mitigation action plan prepared by the Bank’s management. The Board’s decision will trigger the process of resolving the main concerns raised by the complainants that the Sendou power plant will have negative impacts and consequences on their environments and their lives.
In 2017, the AfDB received numerous community complaints, which led to the bank announcing it will review compliance eligibility of the project. The IRM will monitor the implementation of the Action Plan and report progress to the Board annually.
The Sendou Coal Power Plant project was approved by the Boards of Director of the bank on 25 November 2009. The senior loan was for €49,392,473, with a total project cost of €164,610,732.
The project is a public private partnership initiative, which is also co-financed by Banque Ouest Africaine de Developpement (BOAD), CBAO Senegal (a subsidiary of Attijariwafa Bank – Morocco) and the Netherlands Development Bank (Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V. (FMO).
The project started producing power in November 2018.
Author: GBA News Desk/ESI-Africa Contributor
This article was originally published on ESI Africa and is republished with permission with minor editorial changes.
